


Baby Brother Ours

by Sparky_Stark



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Supernatural
Genre: Big Brother Dean, Hurt!Percy, Hurt!Sam, Percy is a Winchester, Sam is adorable, hurt!Dean, season one AU, season one rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-23
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-01-13 13:51:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1228825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparky_Stark/pseuds/Sparky_Stark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy Jackson is an impossible child in more ways than one. His brothers are hunters and their father is AWOL. </p><p>Season one rewritten with Percy Jackson as a Winchester.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> So the beginning is very similar to the episode. I know. But bare with it, I do put my own twist on things. 
> 
> Comments would be greatly appreciated. As you can see, I'm planning to do this for the whole of season one and then maybe season two. 
> 
> Thanks for reading 
> 
> XoSparky

"Whoa, easy, tiger." 

Sam can't believe it. He's pinned to the floor and breathing hard from the fight but manage to get out one word. 

"Dean?" Laughter from him is the only answer Sam gets. "You scared the crap out of me!" He snaps, annoyed.

"That's 'cause you're out of practice." Sam can practically hear the smirk in Dean's voice. He grabs Dean's hand and yanks while his heel slams into Dean's back sending him to the floor. "Or not." Dean mutters. "Get off me." Sam rolls off his older brother and gets to his feet, pulling Dean up with him. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked. 

"Well, I was looking for a beer." Sam rolled his eyes and scoffed. Of curse he was, but that wasn't the real reason Dean was here. If he wanted beer he could've stopped off at any gas station and got some. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam asks again. 

"Okay. Alright. We gotta talk."

"Uh, the phone?" Sam says, putting on his best 'duh' face. 

"If I'd'a called, would you have picked up?" Sam had to admit that, no, he probably wouldn't have picked up. But at least he'd have had some forewarning that his brother was going to turn up in the dead of night and scare the shit out of him. 

The lights snapped on. 

"Sam?" The brothers turn their heads to the new voice. Stood in tiny shorts and a cropped Smurfr shirt is Jessica Moore. 

"Jess. Hey." Sam says. "Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica." He introduces. Sam sees Dean looking Jess up and down and immediately becomes angry. 

"Wait, your brother Dean?" Jess asks while she cocks her head to the side. Sam nods reluctantly and Dean grins. 

"Oh, I love the Smurfs. You know, I gotta tell you. You are completely out of my brothers league."

Sam grinds his teeth. He's debating either to punch or shoot his brother when Jess speaks again. 

"Just let me go put something on." Jess turns away to go back to their bedroom. 

"No, no, no." Dean interrupted. " I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously." Dean walks over to Sam without ever taking his eyes off Jess. Sam is about two seconds away from giving his brother a minor concussion. And that would be going lightly. 

"Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business. But, uh, nice to meet you." Dean makes something between a dismissive motion and some sort if handshake. He starts moving away thinking Sam is going to follow him. 

"No." Sam says. He wraps his arm around Jess and pulls her close. "No," he repeats. "Whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her."

Dean stares at Sam incredulously. He's tempted to yell. To say something about just how stupid Sam is being about it. But he doesn't. 

"Okay." He says instead. He turns back around to look at them both head on. "Um, dad hasn't been home in a few days." He says. He hopes Sam understands what he means but it doesn't seem hopeful. 

"So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later." Sam answers dismissively. 

Dean ducks his head. How could he say this without giving it all away and giving Sam the task if explaining everything to his nice, normal girlfriend. He looks back up and clears his throat. 

"Dad's on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days. Neither has Percy." That got Sam's attention. His expression doesn't change as he takes it in. Jess glances up at her boyfriend with worry clearly etched on her face. 

"Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside."

They don't talk as they walk out f the apartment and Jess doesn't question them. There's a lot she doesn't know about her boyfriend and a lot she's sure she doesn't want to know. 

She watches as Sam grabs some jeans and a hoodie and follows his brother outside. Sighing, she's goes back to the bedroom and waits. 

Sam is pacing in front of Dean as he rants. "I mean, come on. You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you."

"You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing. For all I know Percy is dead. I need you to help me find them."

"You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing and he's always fine. As for Percy," Sam sighed. "Even if we knew where this camp of his was we wouldn't be able to get in there to check and we have no idea where to start looking." 

"He's never gone for this long. Now are you gonna come with me or not?"

"I'm not." Sam says. 

"Why not?" Dean demands. This is their father and little brother they're talking about. Their 16 year old little brother. How could Sam be so heartless?

"I swore I was done hunting. For good. And I'd be more use finding Percy here than randomly trailing all over the States for him."

"Come on. It wasn't easy, but it's wasn't that bad." Dean says as he starts to walk down the stairs. Reluctantly, Sam follows. 

"Yeah?" He asks, getting ready to argue that hunting 'wasn't that bad'. "When I told Dad I was scared if the thing in my closet he gave me a .45"

Dean stops at the door they had just reached. The one that led outside. He spun around to face Sam, anger clear on his face. 

"Well, what was he supposed to do?" 

"I was nine years old!" Sam argued. "He was supposed to say, don't be afraid if the dark."

"Don't be afraid if the dark? Are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid if the dark. You know what's out there."

"Yeah, I know, but still. The way we grew up, after mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her. But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find."

"We save a lot of people doing it, too."

Sam stays silent for a while. He's debating what he should say next, if he should say something next and if he does, should it be that? Was it a bit of a low blow?

"You think mom would have wanted this for us?" He finally asks. Dean freezes momentarily but rolls his eyes and slams the door open. 

It's bitterly cold outside, especially since it's night. The parking lot is quiet with only the soft glow of street lights showing the way to the unmistakable Impala. Climbing the stairs from the door to the parking lot both brothers remain silent. Sam mulling over their childhood and Dean focused on getting Sam to come find their family with him. 

"The weapon training, and metalling the silver into bullets? We were raised like warriors." 

"So what are you gonna do?" Dean asks in a feud voice. They're crossing the parking lot, moving closer and closer to the Impala. "You're just gonna love some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?" There was an undertone of mockery and sadness to Dean's voice, hidden beneath the quiet rage.

"Not normal." Sam rebuts. "Safe."

"And that's why you ran away." Den flinches as soon as he says it. It's cruel. It's just about as low as he can get but it needed to be said. He needed Sam to come with him. He had to strike a nerve and this was it. 

"I was just going to college." Sam nearly hissed. "It was Dad who said that if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing." Sam seems almost petulant in his argument, well, he does to Dean at least. 

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already. I can feel it." Dean sighs and looks at his younger brother. Sam remains silent but there is conflict in his eyes. He supposed it doesn't matter what Dad had done to him, did to him, in the past, Sam would always do the right thing. And they were still family. Always. Dean knew that meant a hell of a lot to Sam. Mor than it did to most people, hell, more than it did to Dean himself and he was a pretty firm believer in family first. 

And it was Percy for Pete's sake. There was nothing Sam wouldn't do for their little brother. Dean was pretty sure that that would be the deciding factor in all if this. Even if Sam didn't want to look for their dad, which was unlikely, there was no way in hell we wouldn't look for Percy. 

"I can't do this alone." Dean finally says. 

"Yes you can." Sam scoffs. 

"Alright, well, I don't want to."

Sam sighs and looks down. He's thinking again. Dean wonders, vaguely, if he should be worried about what he's thinking, but by this time, if he hadn't convinced Sam then he never would. 

"When did you last hear from Percy?"

"Uh, about a week ago now. He lays managed to call from a pay phone I god knows where to tell me he was fine, on another one of his hunts. Can I just say how is it fair that Dad lets him go out alone and 16 when he barely lets me go out alone and I'm 26? It sounded like there was something coming after him when he hung up. Lots of yelling."

"You think something got to him?"

"I sure as hell hope not. But that's all I have to go on. It seems the most likely scenario." 

"Okay. So assuming the yelling in the background was because of something attacking then that means he was with a group of people. So, the more likely scenario is that this was a small twin gig. He rallied the groups and got them all together to fight. Chances are, with numbers on their side, they won and Percy's just got caught up in some celebration or other. Or he could just have gone back to school like he was supposed to."

Dean grunted. It was possible that Sam was right. He just had a really bad feeling. Why had Percy used a pay phone when he had a perfectly good mobile. Unless he was out of the country but Dad wouldn't have let him... Would he? 

"So what can you tell me about Dad? What was he hunting, where, all that jazz?"

"Dude, did you seriously just say all that jazz?" Sam waves him off in annoyance. 

"Jess has been watching 'Chicago'. Back to the matter in hand."

"Right, ahem," Dean cleared his throat, "Dad was checking out some two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy." Dean was opening the trunk of the Impala while he spoke, then the spare tyre compartment. It was a fully stocked arsenal which he propped open with a shot gun. Scattered around the bottom if it was a mass of papers. He rifled around for amounted before pulling out a reasonably organised stack. He handed one of the sheets to Sam. 

"So this guy," he continued,"they found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA."

Sam looks closely at the paper Dean handed to him. It's a print out if a newspaper article. 'Centennial Highway Disappearance' was the headline on the Jericho Herald print out. As he read, Sam noticed it was dated September 19th 2005. There is a picture if a man on it with the caption 'Andrew Carey MISSING'. 

"So maybe he was kidnapped." Sam suggests as he looks up. It would be unusual. People get kidnapped all the time. Why jump to a supernatural conclusion?

"Yeah, well here's another one in April. One in December 'oh-four, 'oh-three, 'ninety eight, 'ninety two," as he reels off the dates he hands Sam a new piece of paper. Each an article from the Jericho Herald, each with a caption under a picture saying 'MISSING'. "Ten of them over the past twenty years. All men, all on the same five mile stretch of road."

Dean's takes the papers back from Sam. He tries to put them away neatly in the trunk. He pulls out another bag in its place. 

"It started happening more and more so dad went to dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which was bad enough. Then I got this." He grabs a tape recorder from the new bag. He hits the play button. The sound of their dad's voice is unmistakable but the recording full of static and it's obvious that the line was breaking up. 

Sam listens anxiously to their father's voice. 

'Dean... Something big is starting to happen... I need to try figure out what's going on. It may... Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger.'

Sam hears the soft click as Dean stops the recording. He takes a minute to gather his thoughts. That did not sound good. Something hug is starting to happen? And it had Dad worried? Then it has to be of apocalyptic proportions because it takes a lot to scare John Winchester. 

"You know there's EVP on that?" Sam says. 

"Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?" Dean grins slightly at his brother. Getting back into the swing if things already. Maybe this would be easier than Dean had originally thought. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Sam shaking his head. "All right. So I slowed down the message, ran it through a gold wave and I got this." He presses play for a second time. 

The recording is much clearer this time, but no less worrying. There's an extra voice. A woman's voice. 

'I can never go home.' She says. The recording stops. 

"Never go home." Sam mutters. 

Dean drops the recorder back into the trunk. He pulls down the shot gun he was using to prop it open and shits the trunk. He leans on the car and looks at Sam. One last thing, just to tip the balance. Just to make sure Sam would come with him. It would have to work. 

"You know, in almost two years I've never bothered you, never asked you for anything." Dean leaves it hanging. He would let Sam make up his mind, let his guilt do the work. Sam sighs. He looks away so as not to face Dean. Unfortunately, and reluctantly, he turns back to face his older brother. 

It wasn't for lack if trying that he couldn't find a way to worm out of the situation. He really didn't want to go, and he really was sure that he'd be much more useful in the hunt for Percy here, where he had access to reliable internet and computers and whatever else might be helpful. 

"All right. I'll go. I'll help you find them." Dean nods. Sam eyes him with a determined glint in his eye. "But I have to be back first thing Monday. Just wait here."

Sam makes as if to go back into the apartment and collect some things he'd need for the next few days. He managed two steps before Dean spoke again. 

"Whats first thing Monday?"

Sam almost didn't answer. It wasn't something Dean would understand anyhow. School had never been his thing, and university, well, let's say the day Dean went to university would be the day that he stopped calling Sam 'Sammy'. 

"I have this... I have an interview." He tried to brush it off like it was nothing. He didn't want to go into the details with his brother right now. 

"A job interview? Skip it." Sam snorts and shakes his head. 

"A law school interview." He clarified. "It's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?" Dean asks, smirking. 

"So we got a deal or not?"

Sam makes his way back up to his apartment. Why did I agree to this? He wonders. I was done with hunting. I was out. I had law school and Jess and safe. But no, my big brother comes knocking on the door and says 'dad hasn't been home in a few days' and I'm sucked right back in. 

But Percy... Sam sighed. Where the hell was Percy? Dad had let him go alone on hunts? That didn't seem likely. Percy had been killed in a hunt? That seemed even less likely. Sam knew his brother, and his brother was good. Really good. Better, maybe, than Dean. Sam sniggers at the thought. Wouldn't it hurt Dean's pride to know that his baby brother was better than him and hadn't even been doing it as long?

Sam felt some sort of satisfaction in that. Not only had he taken a private jab at the brother who was dragging him back into hunting, even if only till Monday, he also got to reassure himself that his other brother, his baby brother, was perfectly fine... Most likely. 

In his bedroom Sam grabs a duffel bag to pack. He retrieves the large, hook shaped knife he has hidden away and slides it inside. Light foot falls follow him in. He turns to see Jess behind him. She's stood in the door frame with her eyes looking at the bag curiously. 

"Wait, you're taking off?" She asks. Sam looks up to her eyes. "Is this about your dad? Is he alright?"

"Yeah," Sam starts in an attempt to brush it off. "You know. Just a little family drama." Sam walks over to the dresser and turns on the lamp. The light floods the room as Jess mixes further in. She sits on the bed, next to Sam's bag. She sits and plays with the handles. 

"Your brother said he was on some kind of hunting trip." Jess says as Sam rummages through the drawers. He pulls out a couple if shirts and throws them into the duffel. 

"Oh yeah," Sam shrugs, "he's just deer hunting up at the cabin, he's probably got Jim, Jack and Jose along with him. I'm just going to bring him back." Sam thinks it's not a complete lie. He is just going to bring him back. Hopefully no hunting involved but with Winchester luck in his side he was doubtful. And then there was the problem of Percy. It wasn't that Sam didn't want to look for his brother, but with absolutely no leads he was sure it was going to take longer than the couple of days there was till Monday. 

"What about the interview?" Sam turns his head from the bag he's packing to look at her. 

"I'll make the interview." He scoffs slightly. "It's only for a couple of days." Sam smiles at her and lifts the bag as he walks around the bed. Jess gets up to follow him. 

"Sam, I mean, please. Just stop for a second. You sure you're okay? Your brother mentioned someone else. Who was that? Percy?"

Sam laughs a little and rubs the back of his neck. 

"I'm fine." He states. "Percy... Percy is our younger brother. He's sixteen. But honestly, Jess, I'm fine. He's probably in school so we'll just ring up and check. I'm fine. Everything will be fine. I'll be back in time, I promise, okay?" He leans down to kiss her cheek. 

"At least tell me where you're going." Jess sours after him. But sam's already gone and Jess is alone in the apartment. 

It was morning by the time they stopped. The gas station was a wooden building with painted signs. A small shelter jutted out from the main section and with the sign 'Tyres. Lubrication.', painted in black stuck to it. A red and white sign proclaiming 'gas' hung a little further back. In the window 'cold beer' was being advertised in blue and yellow lights. 

The Impala was parked beneath the small shelter, next to the gas pumps. Sam was sat in the front passenger seat with the door open. He's flicking through Dean's cassette tape collection and not holding out much hope for some decent music for the journey. 

Dean makes his way out of the convenience mart with his arms full of junk food. "Hey." He calls to Sam who leans out to look at him. "You want some breakfast?" Sam pulls a face at the prospect of what Dean was calling 'breakfast'. 

"No, thanks. How'd you pay for that stuff? You and Dad still running credit card scams?" Sam sounds disapproving. Well, of course he does, he wants to be a lawyer. 

"Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a pro ball career." Dean argues. "Besides," he says as he puts the nozzle back in the pump, "all we do is apply it's not our fault they sent us the cards."

"Yeah? And what names did you wrote on application this time?"

"Uh, Burt Aframian and his son Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal." Sam scoffs incredulously but nods. 

"That sounds about right." Sam says as he swings back into the car and closes the door behind him. Dean sets down his soda and chips in the middle of the car. He closes his door. "I swear, man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection." Sam says as he scrounges around in the box on his lap. He thinks there's close to a dozen. Maybe more. Some of them have album artwork but others, Sam can see, are hand labelled in Dean's scrawl. 

"Why?"

"Well for one, they're cassette tapes. And two, Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica?" Sam asks as he pulls out a tape for each band he names. Dean grabs the Metallica case out of his hand. Sam looks at him like a parent would to break the news that Santa isn't real. "It's the greatest hits of mullet rock."

"Well, house rules, Sammy." Dean's starts as he puts the cassette in. "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." Dean grins ahead and starts the engine. 

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve year old. It's Sam, okay?" Sam tells him almost petulantly. 

"Sorry, I can't hear you," Dean says as he gestures wildly around his ear. He turns to look at Sam with a mock serious face. "Music's too loud."

Sam sighs and pulls out his cell. 

"Hello?" The voice on the other end says. It's a woman, probably the schools secretary. "This is Goode High School, how can I help?"

"Hi," Sam clears his throat, "I'm looking for my brother, Percy Jackson? Only, he hasn't called in a few days and I was just wondering if he was okay."

"Name?" The woman asks. 

"Sam, uh, Sam Winchester." Sam can hear the tapping of a keyboard in the background. 

"I'm sorry, you're not on the list of people registered to be privy to the whereabouts of this student. Is there anything else I can help you with?" 

Sam cursed under his breath. Had his dad really stopped him from being able to communicate with Percy? Just because he wanted to go to college? 

"Um, yeah, is Dean Winchester privy to that information?" More tapping. 

"He is." The secretary confirms. 

"Right. Hold on a sec." He says to the secretary before pulling the phone away from his ear. "Dean, pull over." 

"What? Why?"

"Just do it." Dean wrenches the car to the side of the road. 

"Right, why did I have to do that?" He asks his brother. 

"You need to talk to the secretary at Percy's school. I'm not on his list of contacts anymore so they won't tell me anything." Sam holds the phone out. Dean raises his eyebrow at him. Was he being serious? Sam shakes the phone in front of Dean's nose impatiently. He sighs and takes the phone off Sam. 

"Hello. This is Dean Winchester."

"Good morning Mr Winchester." The perky woman replied. "I'm afraid there's not much to tell you about your brother. He's supposed to be in English right now with Mr Blofis but he hasn't been to any of his classes for the past week. There's been no sick note from the school nurse and his room mates say he hasn't been back to the room since last Friday. We've informed the police and-"

"You mean to tell me my brothers been missing for a week and no one thought to inform me? What kind of school are you running!" Dean yelled down the phone. 

"We have tried to get in contact, Mr Winchester, but neither you nor Percy's other contact has been answering the phone." Dean huffed but didn't interrupt. "The police have been informed but there was no sign of a struggle so either Percy left with someone he knew or-"

"Or he ran away." Dean rubbed his face with one hand. That was the more likely option. Especially if he's found a hunt. "Right. Thank you."

Dean cuts off the connection and looks at Sam. 

"What?" He asks worriedly. "What is it? Is he okay?"

"They haven't seen him in lessons for a week. Which, unfortunately, fits with the last time he called me. He's in trouble."

"Let's not jump to conclusions. How often does he usually call you?"

"Let's not jump to... For gods sakes, Sammy he's sixteen." Sam looks at him flatly. "Alright, fine, he usually calls every couple if days. Four is the longest he's ever stayed out of contact and even then I get a blank email to let me know he's still alive."

"Huh. I thought they were just spam." Sam shrugs. "Okay. So he's been out of contact for an unusually long period of time and hasn't been in school."

"Am I allowed to jump to conclusions now?" Dean growled. 

"Yes, Dean. He's definitely in trouble. But we have no leads. Let's just try to find dad and then we'll look for Percy. It'll be much easier to find him if I have access to everything at home and-"

"Yeah, yeah."

"I'll just call the local hospitals then." Sam murmurs. 

Dean doesn't pay attention to whatever it is Sam is saying on the phone. He just keeps driving. All manner of gruesome creatures come into his head and all he can think is 'what if that killed Percy?'. He hopes his brother isn't dead, of course he does. But he knows that he has to face the possibility that something finally got to one of them. It was always going to be inevitable, something was going to kill one of them one day. Hunters don't usually get a happily ever after. 

"All right. Thank you." Sam flips the phone shut. "So, there's no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue. So that's something, I guess." Dean doesn't reply. 

They drive in silence for a little while longer. There's a bridge up ahead of them, one they need to cross to get over into Jericho, with two police cars parked on it, flashing blue lights and all. 

Several officers and milling around and talking through walkie talkies. Dean nudges Sam slightly. 

"Check it out." Sam leans forward at his brother's voice. He strains to get a closer look at what was going on. Dean pulls over. 

Sam watches as Dean opens the glove compartment and pulls out a box full of fake IDs. Some were his, some were John's. Sam catches a glance at a few, FBI, CIA and DEA among them. Dean pulls one out and grins at Sam.

"Let's go." He says. Dan gets out of the car. He can hear the lead deputy, Deputy Jaffe, Dean notes when he gets closer, yelling down over the railing of the bridge. 

"You guys find anything?" He shouts. 

"No! Nothing!" Comes the distant reply. Jaffe turns around to face the car in the middle of the road. He sees another deputy, Hein, stood at the driver's side looking around inside the car. Hein looks up. 

"No sign of a struggle, no footprints, no fingerprints. Nothing. It's almost too clean."

Dean leads the way to the crime scene, looking like he belongs, dam follows his lead and follows slightly behind. 

"So, this kid Troy. He's dating your daughter, isn't he?" Jaffe asks Hein. 

"Yeah."

"How's Amy doing?"

"She's putting up missing posters downtown." Hein shrugs. 

"You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean calls over when he gets close enough. Jaffe looks up at Dean. Immediately, he straightens his back. 

"And who are you?" Jaffe demands. Dean flashes the badge he got out if the glove compartment. 

"Federal Marshals." Dean tells him confidently. 

"You two are a little young for marshals, aren't you?" Jaffe sounds suspicious. Sam finds that he can't blame him. Who wouldn't be suspicious of a 22 and 26 year old turning up and claiming to be marshals. 

"Thanks, that's awfully kind of you." Dean laughs. "You did have another one just like this, correct?" Dean presses. 

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There've been others before that."

"So, this victim, you knew him?" Sam adds to the conversation. 

"Town like this, everybody knows everybody." Jaffe nods. Dean is circling the victims car, looking around. 

"Any connection between the victims? Beside that they're all men?" Dean looks up from his circling. 

"No. Not as far as we can tell."

"So what's the theory?" Sam walks over to Dean as he speaks. 

"Honestly, we don't know. Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?" Jaffe suggests. 

"Well, that's exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys." Sam stomps on Dean's foot. Dean glares at him, there was really no need for that, he was only having a joke. 

"Thank you for your time." Sam starts to walk away and Dean follows. 

When they get to the Impala Sam feels a hand hit his head. Dean. 

"Ow! What was that for?" 

"Why'd you have to step on my foot?" 

"Why do you have to talk to the police like that?"

Dean looks at Sam. He moves in front of him, effectively blocking his path and stopping him from walking. 

"Come on. They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find Dad we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves."

Sam looks over Dean's shoulder. He clears his throat pointedly. Dean turns. Behind him are two FBI agents and Sheriff Pierce, so his badge says. 

"Can I help you boys?" The Sheriff's voice is gruff. 

"No, sir, we were just leaving." 

The next morning Sam and Dean found themselves on the streets of Jericho. It was a fairly miserable day with clouds littering the sky and the found damp from the previous nights light shower. Dean has left his email logged in all night, just in case, and Sam had made sure both their phones were on full volume. If either of their missing relatives called, they didn't want to miss it. 

It hadn't been the best nights sleep either of them had had in a while but it also hadn't been the worst. They hadn't spoken much, there wasn't much to say, just sat there in their own private worry. Plus, the Impala wasn't the best place to sleep. They really needed to find a hotel for tonight. 

They see a young woman tacking up posters with Troy's face on them. They had the caption 'Missing Troy Squire' on them. 

"I'll bet you that's her." Dean says, nudging his brother. 

"Yeah." She was stood under the Highland Movie Theatre sign which currently read 'emergency town hall meeting. Sunday 8pm. Be safe out there.' 

She was a few metres ahead if the boys, sticking a poster to the metal gates in front of the theatre. 

"You must be Amy." Dean walks up to her. She's wearing a baggy brown jacket and boots that reach just above her ankles. Her hair is dark and she has a black bag thrown over her shoulder. 

"Yeah." She replies softly. 

"Troy told us about you. We're his uncles. I'm Dean and this is Sammy." Dean lies. He knows by now what the best thing to tell different people is to get them to open up to you. Some, depending in the relationship to the victim, go for the estranged family members, others go for the authorities and some, very few, will talk to journalists or complete strangers who were just 'passing through'. 

"He never mentioned you to me." Amy says and tries to continue walking. Sam and Dean follow. 

"Well, that's Troy, I guess. We're not around much, we're up in Modesto." Dean explains. Sam has to marvel at his brother's amazing ability to lie and do it convincingly on the spot. Or maybe he has these lies awry planned out, Sam didn't know.

"So we're looking for him too, and we're kinda asking around." Sam sounds unsure but Amy doesn't notice. He supposes it's because he wants to go into law, and even though lying on this level isn't against the law, it would be something he'd have to get comfortable with again if this were to continue. Wait. Where did that thought come from? If course this wouldn't continue, he has an interview for law school on Monday. His whole future on a plate. No. This wasn't going to continue. Once they'd found Dad he was going to have his interview and then he was going to use everything he could at home to look for Percy. 

Another young woman walks up to the trio. She's heading straight for Amy. 

"Hey, are you okay?" She asks. She places an hand in Amy's hand. 

"Yeah."

"You mind f we ask you a couple of questions?" Sam nodded in the direction of a diner he'd seen further down the street. 

The walk to the diner wasn't long and soon enough the four of them we're say in a booth with drinks. Amy and Rachel, they leaned her name was, sat opposite Sam and Dean. 

It wasn't the most enjoyable thing in the world, to dredge up memories of a lost loved one, but it had to be done. Dean had to do it. Amy told them Troy had been driving home and he said he would call her straight back. He never did. 

"I like your necklace." Sam points to the pentagram around her neck. Amy holds the pendant and looks down at it. 

"Troy face it to me. Mostly to scare my parents with all that devil stuff." Amy laughs. Sam joins her and looks down, then up. 

"Actually, it means the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful. I mean, if you actually believe in that kind if thing." Dean rolls his eyes at his brother. 

"Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries. Here's the deal ladies," he says leaning forwards, "the way Troy disappeared. Something's not right. So if you've heard anything..."

The two girls look at each other. They seem to have a silent conversation that Sam and Dean can't understand. They know something, or, at least, they think they do. 

"What is it?"

"It's a local legend." Rachel starts. "This one girl? She got murdered on Centennial, like decades ago." She pauses. Sam and Dean are watching Rachel attentively, nodding along with her story. "Well, supposedly she's still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up? Well, they disappear forever."

"Sam." The door to Sam's apartment is being pounded within an inch of its life. "Sam! Sam!" More pounding. "Sam open up! It's Percy!"

Inside the apartment Jessica edges slowly towards the door. The person in the other side sounds aggressive, and not that Jess was a wuss, but she's rather not be beaten within an niche of her life thank you very much. 

"Come on, bro, I need your help."

Jess flings the door open. 

"Jackson?" Her mouth drops open at the sixteen year old in front of her. "I thought you, we all thought you..." Jess shakes her head. "Come inside."

Percy follows the blonde further into the apartment. He looks around. He's happy his brother has such a nice place. He's not, however, happy about who he shares this place with. 

Jess offers him a drink. He shakes his head. "I can't stay long. I need to find Sam." Jess nods. 

"How's Annabeth?" Percy glares at her. "Come on, Percy, just tell me if she's all right."

"She's fine. No thanks to you."

"I've told you already, I'm sorry, it wasn't meant to happen like that." She sighs and places a hand on Percy's shoulder. She tries to look into his eyes, to show him how sincere she is. He doesn't look back. 

"Camp?"

"It's... Surviving." Jess nods. She's not going to get much else out of him, she can tell. 

"Why are you here?"

"I'm looking for Sam. I was on a quest and I had a dream. I need to find him." Percy gets up to leave. 

"Wait. I can help you." Jess reaches an arm out to stop him leaving. 

"No. Thanks." Percy shakes her off. 

"Look, whatever differences we have we need to put them aside. If you're saying Sam's in some kind if trouble then I want to help." Jess closes her eyes. "I love your brother, Percy." Percy tenses. That was not something he wanted to hear. "If he's in trouble we need to find him."

"Fine." Percy pulls out his cell phone. "I don't have his number. I would've called Dean, you know who Dean is right?" Jess nods. "But he hasn't spoken to Sam for two years."

"Yes he has." Percy's head snaps towards Jess. 

"What?"

"Just yesterday. He came here in the middle if the night wanting Sam to help him look for their dad."

"He's my dad too." Percy mutters, more to himself than Jess. "Where did they go?"

"I don't know. Dean said something about a hunting trip." Percy curses under his breath. 

"I need Sam's number. The one I have goes straight to voicemail. He must've changed it since I last saw him."

"Sam hasn't changed his number for three... Oh." Realisation dawned on Jess. Percy hadn't spoken to his brother for three years, at least. "Here. Call him on my phone."

Warily, Percy takes the offered phone from Jess's hands. He raises an eyebrow at the name if the contact on the screen. 'Sam the lawyer'. Jess shrugs. "What can I say? I'm proud of him."

"He's going to law school?" Percy asks. 

"Yeah, well, he hopes at least."

"Right." He knew he'd always been out of the loop in their family. But he didn't know he was this far out if the loop. He would've thought Sam would tell him something like that. Or maybe not. Maybe when he said he was done with hunting he meant done for good. With family as well. Percy shakes his head. No. Sam wouldn't do that. 

"Pick up, pick up, pick up." He mutters urgently. The phone keeps ringing uselessly. Come on Sam, Percy pleads, pick up the damn phone. 

 

The library is quiet, it always is, but what else so you expect from a library? Sam and Dean are sat at a computer searching the Jericho Herald website for their mystery spirit. Sam, after pushing Dean out of the way, finds an article titled 'Suicide on Centennial' dated April 25, 1981. 

"Says here she jumped off that bridge we were on last night after her kids died in the bathtub. Drowned. This was 1981. Constance Welch, twenty four years old." Sam jumped as his phone buzzed in his pocket. 

'Jess'

"Hey, Jess." He answers with a soft smile. "What's up?"

"It's not Jess." The voice that answers is male but it doesn't sound threatening. "Look. I don't know where you are right now, Sam, but wherever it is you need to come home. Now."

"Who is this?"

"You changed your number." 

"Percy?" Dean's head snaps towards Sam. 

"Hi, Sam." Percy says. 

"What the hell!" Sam hisses. "You've had Dean worried sick. Where have you been?" Dean was motioning for Sam to give him the phone. 

"I can't explain right now but-" Dean snatches the phone away from Sam and interrupts Percy mid sentence. 

"Where the hell have you been?" He shouts down the phone. The heads of every single person I the library turns to them. Sam pushes Dean out of the door with an apologetic look. 

"I'm sorry, Dean. I know I should've called but I was busy with-"

"Damn right you should've called. Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you? You could have been dead for all I knew and you couldn't even send a text?" Dean is seething by this point. What possible excuse could Percy have that would justify not calling when he sounds perfectly fine. 

"I was busy, Dean." Percy tries. He doesn't want to explain to Dean just why he was busy but he had to say something. 

"Busy my ass. Doing what?"

"Where's Sam?"

"Oh no. I am not done with you yet, mister, I-"

"Dean. This is important. I need to speak to Sam or someone's gonna get hurt. Please." Percy hears Dean fumbling with the phone to give it back to Sam. 

"I'm back."

"Good. When are you coming home?"

"I'll be back by Monday, why?" Sam looks at Dean, confused. 

"Okay, just, you need to get back as soon as possible. This isn't something to discuss over the phone."

"Percy, what's going on?"

"Good bye, Sam." The phone clicks off. Percy ended the call. 

"He's changed." Sam mutters to Dean. 

"Well, Sammy," Dean says, slapping Sam's back, "you haven't seen him for three years."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Hey, stop it." There is a moment of silence. "What did he want?"

"I don't really know. He wanted to know when I was going home. It... It sounded like he was in trouble."

"Yeah, I got that feeling too. All the more reason to finish up here as soon as possible, yeah?"

"So this is where Constance took a swan dive." Dean says as they walk along Sylvania Bridge that night. They stop at one side to lean on the railings. 

"So you think Dad would have been here?"

"Well he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." Dean pushes off the railings and continues walking along the bridge. 

"Okay, so now what? We gotta be back by Monday, man. Percy's waiting and I've got my interview."

"I forgot about that." Dean admits. "You're really seriously about this, aren't you? You think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry you girl? Does Jessica know the truth about you? What you've done?"

"No, and she's not going to know." Sam informs Dean in a way that clearly says 'and you're not going to tell her either'.

"Well that's healthy." Sarcasm drips from Dean's lips. "You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are."

"And who's that?" Sam asks while he jogs to catch up with his brother. 

"You're one if us." Sam pulls up in front of Dean. 

"No. I'm not like you."

"You have a responsibility to-"

"To Dad?" Sam scoffs. "And his crusade? If it weren't for picture I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference does it make? We can't bring her back, even if we do find the thing that killed her."

Dean furiously grabs Sam's collar and shoves him up against the railings. It looks like he's about to punch Sam in the face but just resists it. 

"Don't talk about her like that." He settles on saying. He releases Sam from his grip and walks away. He sees a woman standing at the end of the bridge. Constance Welch. "Sam."

Sam jogs up to his brother's side. Constance has a haunting presence. Her face is so strangely serene for someone about to commit suicide, since that's what the boys assumed they were watching a replay of, in her ghostly white dress and dark hair. She looks over at Sam and Dean before she steps off the edge. Sam and Dean run to the railings to look for her. They damned the water but there was no sign of any ripples from the impact. 

"Where'd she go?" Dean mutters. 

"I don't know."

They jump as the Impala's engine roars behind them. Dean slowly pulls his keys out of his pocket and jingles them in front of Sam. His eyes widen as the car jerks and heads straight for them. 

"Dean? Go! Go!" Sam yells over the powerful roar of the engine. But they have no chance, they can't outrun a car. It gets too close and they have to jump over the edge if the bridge. The Impala stops. 

Sam catches himself on the edge if the bridge on the other side of the railing. He struggles to pull himself up and back onto the bridge. 

"Dean?" He calls over the railing when he doesn't see his brother on the bridge. "Dean!" Sam looks wildly around the water for any sign of Dean. He finally catches sight of Dean pulling himself out of the water, filthy and annoyed, panting in the mud. 

"What?" He shouts up. 

"Are you all right?"

"I'm super." He replies cheerily. 

The motel they end up in is dark and dingy. Dean throws his MasterCard down, well, a MasterCard that he owns, at least. 

"One room, please." Dean says to the clerk. He's still filthy from his nose dive into the lake and looks agitated as the clerk looks over his card. 

"You guys having a reunion or something?" The clerk asks. 

"What do you mean?" Sam steps out from behind Dean. 

"I had another guy, Burt Aframian. Bought out a room for the whole month." Dean looks at Sam and smiles. 

It hadn't been hard getting the room number out of the clerk. They were obviously family if some description, and making up some lie about being late and they were meant to meet here or something like that. 

They hadn't stretched as far as the ask for a key, who knew what John had in there and wouldn't that just be suspicious? 

Dean is playing lookout while Sam picks the lock. When he's done, he reaches out to grab Dean's arm and pull him inside. Sam closes the door behind them. They look around and it's immediately obvious that John had stayed there. Notes had been tacked to all four walls, maps, newspaper clippings, pictures. Anything that could possibly have a link to the case was on a vertical surface somewhere. 

"Whoa." Sam says. Dean turns on the light by the bed. The new glow shows even more if the rooms desolate appearance. A half eaten hamburger sits in the middle of the bed. Dean picks up the burger and sniffs it. He pulls a face the drops the burger back onto the bed. 

Sam kneel down to look at the salt line on the floor. He looks around the rest of the room. 

"Salt, cats-eye shells... He was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in." Sam sighs as he gets back up. He crosses the room to look at the papers taped up on he other walls. There's a whole lot of stuff that Sam doesn't see the connection to but then... There. Above the Sam Jericho Herald article they had found yesterday was a hand written note. 'Woman in White'. Sam smiled. "Huh. Dad figured it out."

"What do you mean?"

"He found the same article we did. She's a woman in white."

Dean looks along the photos of the victims stuck along the opposite wall. "You sly dogs." He turns back to Sam, his face now serious. "All right, so if that's what we're dealing with Dad would've found the corpse and destroyed it."

"Maybe she has another weakness."

"All right, uh, why don't you see what else you can find out with I go get cleaned up." Dean gestures to his still mud clad body. 

"Hey, Dean? About what I said about earlier about Mom and Dad, I'm sorry."

"No chick-flock moments." Dean says holding up a hand. 

"Jerk." Sam rolls his eyes. 

"Bitch."

Later, when Dean comes out of the bathroom clean again, Sam is say on the bed trying to get through to Jess, and possibly Percy. 

"Hey, man. I'm starving, I'm gonna grab something to eat in that diner down the street. You want anything?" Dean asks as he shrugs on his jacket. 

"No."

"Aframian's buying."

Sam shakes his head. 

Outside the motel room Dean seas a police car and the motel clerk talking to Jaffe and Hein from the bridge that first night. The clerk points at Dean. Panic ripples through him and he snatches his cell phone from his pocket. 

"What?" Sam asks. Dean watches the deputies approach him. 

"Dude, five-oh, take off."

"What about you?" Sam stands up and walks over to the window. He pulls back the curtain to see what, exactly, is going on. 

"They spotted me. Go find Dad." Dean hangs up quickly an turns to grin at the deputies. "Problem, officers?"

"Where's your partner?" Jaffe asks. 

"Partner? What partner?"

"So. Fake US Marshall's. Fake credit cards. You got anything that's real?"

"My boobs." Dean grins. 

Hein is behind him in an instant, slamming him down onto the hood of the car. Dean hits it with a grunt. 

Dean sits in the sheriff's office alone. He doesn't know what's going to happen now but he knows that he sure as hell isn't going to stick around for long enough to find out. 

Sheriff Pierce enters the room. He sets a box down on the table across from Dean. 

"So you want to give us your real name?" The sheriff asks. 

"I told you, it's Nugent. Ted Nugent."

"I don't think you realise just how much trouble you're in here, boy. You have the faces of ten missing persons taped to your wall along with a whole lot of satanic mumbo jumbo. You are officially a suspect."

"That makes sense. Because when the first one went missing I was three." Dean says sarcastically. 

"I know you've got an older partner. Maybe he stated this whole thing. So tell me, Dean, this his?" Pierce tosses a brown leather covered journal on the table. Dean stares at it's the sheriff sits in the edge of of the table flicking through the pages. Images and writing passed by with the occasional extra piece of paper tacked in. 

"I thought that might be your name. You see, I leafed through this earlier. What little I could make out- I mean, it's nine kinds of crazy- but I found this too."

He opens the journal to a page that reads 'Dean 35 -111'. It's written in thick black marker and there is nothing else in that page apart from the information and the circle that surrounds it. 

Sam had found his way to the new Welch house. Constance's husband had been living alone since her untimely death. Joseph remembered John talking to him a few days earlier. 

"Mr. Welch, did you ever marry again." Sam asks. 

"No way. Constance, she was the love of my life. Prettiest woman I ever known." Sam didn't doubt that. But it didn't change the fact that Constance became a woman I. White for a reason. Joseph was unfaithful and that was the end of it. 

"So you had a happy marriage?"

"Definitely." Joseph says after a moments hesitation. Sam had his confirmation. His dad had been right. 

"Well, that should so it. Thanks for your time."

Sam starts to walk towards the Impala when a thought hits him. Joseph shouldn't stay unaware of what his actions have caused. 

"Mr. Welch, did you ever hear of a woman in white?" Joseph turns around to face him in a state of confusing. "Sometimes a weeping woman? It's a ghost story. Um, well, it's more of a phenomenon really. They've been sighted for hundreds of years, dozens of places. All these are different women, you understand. But all share the same story."

"Boy," Joseph growls. "I don't much care for nonsense." He starts walking away from Sam and back into his house. 

"See, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them." Joseph stops dead at Sam's words. "And these women, basically suffering from temporary insanity, mustered their children. Then they took their own lives when they realised what they'd done. So if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him and that man is never seen again."

"You think... You think Thai has something to do with Constance?"

"You tell me."

Dean sighed angrily in the sheriff's office. "How many time do I gotta tell you? It's my high school locker combo." Sheriff Pierce is still interrogating Dean about the page in John's journal. 

"We gonna do this all night long?"

Just as Pierce speaks a deputy leans into the room. 

"We got a 911 call. Shots over at Whiteford road."

"You have to go to the bathroom?" Pierce asks Dean. 

"No." Dean pulls a face. 

"Good." With that Pierce slams a pair of cuffs around Dean's wrist and the arm of the chair and leaves. 

Dean groans and looks around the room. He notices a paper clip poking out of the bottom of the journal and grins. Dean watches the sherif and deputy through the window of the office when he gets out of the cuffs. 

Moments later Dean is clambering down a metal fire escape on the back side of the building. He makes his way over to the closest phone booth. His phone had been confiscated and he hadn't has the time to steal it back. 

"Fake 911 call, Sammy. I don't know, that's pretty illegal." He says when Sam answers the phone. 

"You're welcome." Sam replies. "So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a woman in white. And she's buried behind her old house so that should've been Dad's next stop." Sam rambled. 

"Sammy, would you shut up of a second?"

"I just can't figure out why Dad hasn't destroyed to so corpse yet."

"Well that's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho."

"What? How do you know?" Sam demands. 

"I've got his journal. You know he doesn't go anywhere without this thing."

"What does it say?" Sam asks impatiently. 

"Sam old ex-marine crap when he wants to let us know where he's going." Sam sighs. 

"Coordinates. Where to?"

"Don't know yet." 

In the Impala Sam shakes his head. "I don't understand. What could be so important that Dad would skip out in the middle if a job? Dean, what the hell is going on?" Sam looks up briefly and slams on the brake, dropping the phone in the process. The car glides straight through Constance. 

"Sam? Sam!" Dean shouts into the phone. Sam doesn't hear it, he's breathing hard in the front of the Impala. 

"Take me home." Sam jumps. He looks in the rear view mirror. There, in the same what dress as she was in on the bridge, is Constance. 

Percy is pacing in the apartment. He hadn't left since he called Sam and had only slept on Jess's insistence. Percy looks over to the door again hoping Sam is about to walk through. Something isn't right. Something is very, very wrong and he can't figure out what. 

"Percy." Jess sighs from the other side of the kitchen. "Stop pacing, I'm sure Sam will call when he's on his way back. You need to stop worrying, they're only getting your dad from a hunting trip, right? Cabin in the woods, deer, friends. I'm sure they're all fine." Percy cocks his head at her mid pace. It takes him a minute to realise that Sam hadn't told her about what they actually did. She was still blissfully ignorant to that part of the world. "Right?" She presses, sounding slightly more worried now. 

"Yeah." Percy whispers. 

"Hello, kiddies." Jess and Percy spun towards the door. 

Shit. 

"Take me home!" Constance yelled in the Impala. 

"No." Sam hears a loud click. He turns to look at the doors of the Impala. Locked. He tugs and rips at the door in an attempt to get it open. He spins wildly when the gas pedal is pressed down and the car accelerates out of his control. Blind panic ceases him as he tries to steer. He tries agin to open the door. In the backseat, Constance flickers. 

The car doesn't stop until they reach an old abandoned house. Everything in the car stops. 

"Don't do this." Sam says. 

"I can never go home." Constance's voice is sad as she flickers. Realisation dawns on Sam. 

"You're scared to go home." Sam looks to the back of the car but Constance has disappeared. He turns back to the front and of the car. She's there. In the shotgun seat. She climbs into his lap and pushes him back into the seat hard enough to force it to recline. Sam struggles against Constance's considerable strength. 

"Hold me. I'm so cold." Constance leans down into Sam's body. 

"You can't kill me. I'm not unfaithful. I've never been!" Sam grinds out through gritted teeth. 

"You will be. Just hold me." Constance leans to Sam's face and kisses him as he continues to struggle against her. She pulls back and disappears. Sam looks around for a moment wondering where she's gone. 

Suddenly a pain like no other grips him and he screams out. He rips his hoodie open to see five holes brined into the fabric, matching Constance's fingers. She flickers in front of him and Sam can see her hand clawing into his chest. He breathes heavily and screams again as the hand sinks deeper in his chest. He twists and turns and writhes in pain. 

Bang. 

And gun goes off, shattering the window if the Impala. It startles Constance who, momentarily, disappears. Dean walks closer. He's still firing through the broken window at Constance. There is a brief fight between the two. Dean shoots, she disappears, and then she comes back until finally she disappears for enough time for Sam to sit up. 

"I'm taking you home." He grumbles to himself. He presses down heavily on the gas pedal. Dean stares after the car and sees Sam smash through the wall. Dean hurries through the wreckage afterwards. 

"Sam! Sam! Are you okay?"

"I think..." Sam rubs lightly on his chest. 

"Can you move?" Dean asks. Sam pushes himself up a little. Pain flares in his chest but, yes, he can move. 

"Yeah. Help me?" Dean nods and leans through the window to help Sam out. Sam leans heavily on his brother once outside of the car. 

In the background, Constance picks up a photo of herself and her two children. 

Dean closes the car door after Sam, who is leaning heavily on both Dean and the car. Constance looks up at them with a glare. The picture is thrown down to the floor with a smash. Constance forces a bureau to Sam and Dean to pin them against the car. The lights are flickering. There's a staircase to Sam's right. He nudges Dean and nods his head to where water is starting to come down the stairs. It pours down and pools at the edges of the stare case. Constant looks around fearfully. At the top stand a boy and girl. Dean can't make out their features but he assumes that they're Constance's children. They hold hands and speak in chorus. It's easily one of the creepiest things that Dean has ever heard. 

"You've come home to us, Mommy." Constance looks up at them. Shes distraught and then they're behind her, wrapping their small arms around her in a right embrace. She screams, a painful, sorrowful wailing. Her image flickers and in a surge of energy they melt into a puddle, all three of them, on the floor and ten through it. 

"So this is where she drowned her kids." Dean says unnecessarily.

"That's why she could never go home." Sam nods. "She was too afraid to face them."

"You found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy." Dean slaps Sam on the chest, right in his injury. Sam laughs through the pain that nearly sends him to his knees. Dean is leaning over the Impala as if he's inspecting it. 

"I'll tell you something, though, Sammy. If you screwed up my car?" Dean twists to face Sam. "I'll kill you." He finishes with a grin on his face. 

A while later they're driving down the highway, Sam is working out where the coordinates their Dad left would take them to. 

"Here. It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado. About six hundred miles." Sam tells Dean. 

"Hey, we could make it by morning."

"Dean, I, um... We need to go back. Find out what's got Percy so worried and I have my interview..."

"I'll take you home." Dean nods and turns the music up. 

The room is dark, he made sure it is. Percy bucks against the restraints holding him to the chair. A blindfold covers his eye and a pair of Sam's socks has been used as a gag. He doesn't know where Jessica is but he heard the screams earlier and didn't hold out much hope. Blood trickles down his face from a gash in his forehead that's making him feel sick. He's vaguely aware that it's a sign of concussion when he smells the smoke. 

The Impala pulls up in front of Sam's apartment building. Sam gets out and leans over to look through the window. 

"You coming in?" Sam asks Dean. 

"Nah. I'll probably end up ripping the kids throat out for making me worry. Besides. I wouldn't to get in the way of your reunion."

"Maybe we can meet up some time." Sam suggests. "All of us."

"Yeah, all right." 

Sam watches from the pavement as Dean drives away. The walk up to his apartment is a lonely one but he knows what's waiting for him when he gets up there so he tries to prolong it. 

Things hadn't ended well the last time he saw Percy. God, the kid was only thirteen and Sam had flat out told him he should never have been born. He wasn't worth the air he breathed. How was a kid meant to take that kind of stuff from his own brother? Sam had felt bad about it ever since but didn't want to talk to Percy because of his own damn pride.

He runs a hand through his hair and grabs the keys. 

"Jess?" He calls into the house. He closes and locks the door behind him. "You home?" There's a plate of cookie on the side and a note. 'Missed you! Love you!', next to a national geographic. Sam smiles to himself and picks up a cookie. Sneaking into the bedroom he eats the cookie on the way. 

Sam can hear the shower running in the background. He sees a piece of paper lying on the dresser next to the bed. It's not written in Jess's handwriting and definitely doesn't say something that she would write. 

'Yellow Eyes. -Percy' 

Sam's heartbeat quickens. No. No. It can't be. He looks up to the ceiling. Jess is staring down at him, her face locked in a mask of horror, bleeding from her stomach. 

"No!" Sam screams. 

The fire spreads outward from Jess's body. Just like the one that killed their mother. Sam stands, frozen and horrified, at what's happening. He can't think. He can't breathe. No. This is all wrong. No. 

The front door collapses with a bang. Everyone in the building heard it. Everyone but Sam. 

"Sam! Sammy!" Dean tries to stir his brother out of his daze but to not avail. He locks his arms around Sam's stomach and pulls him out of the room. 

"Jess! Jessica!" Sam screams, fighting his brothers grip along the way. "Jess!"

"Sam! I need you to listen to me. Is Percy here?" Dean lightly raps the side of his brother's face. "Sammy! Percy. Is her here?"

"I, uh, I don't... Don't know." Dean curses. 

"Sammy, get outside. Do it now." Numbly Sam obeys Dean's orders. Dean pushes his way back into the bedroom. Not much can be heard over the flames but there's something I the background, something scraping against the floor. "Percy." Dean whispers. 

He covers his mouth and nose with his shirt and stumbles into the room. 

There.

There's a small silhouette against the flames. Dean grabs the chair and pulls it from the room. 

Percy's panicking. The flames are licking at his back where the chair has caught on fire. He's thrown to the side the moment Dean pulls the chair he's ties to from the room. 

The first thing Dean gets rid of is the gag. Percy gasps for breath, coughing and spluttering. 

"Get me out if this thing." His voice is hoarse and scratchy. 

"I'm working in it, baby bro." Dean's knife slides easily through the blindfold and the ropes around Percy's wrists. It doesn't, however, help with the rope around his ankles. "Okay. New tack. I'm gonna break the chair legs and get you out of here okay?" Percy nods as the smoke stings his eyes. Dean's face is still hidden under his top so his smoke inhalation isn't half as bad Percy's. Then again, he also wasn't sat in the room where it started for close to a minute. 

With a grunt Dean snaps off both chair legs. Percy falls forward into his arms. 

"No hospital." Percy mumbles into Dean's shirt. "Please."

"Don't worry, Perce, no hospital." 

Along the backseat of the Impala Percy is curled up unconscious, or sleeping, Sam isn't sure which. He and Dean stand on the outside of the Impala leaning against the trunk. 

They both look on the scene in front of them with a certain amount of sadness. Sam more then Dean. People had come out of their houses to gawk at the commotion. Fire engines and police men surround the, now, extinguished fire. 

Sam walks around to the passenger seat of the Impala, glancing in at Percy along the way. He looks at Dean meaningfully. 

"We have work to do."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really just a short filler type thing because I've been overwhelmed with homework over this weekend and didn't get chance to write the actual chapter out.  
> I'm trying to get one chapter/episode out a week so I thought I should start how I mean to go on and upload this as well.  
> If you like having that brotherly bonding type chapter between episodes I can make it a regular thing.  
> If I'm busy/have guests chapters will be less frequent or not as long.  
> This will happen especially around May and June because I have my GCSE exams so I'll be revising a lot so I get my grades for college. 
> 
> Okay, enjoy. Sorry if it's terrible

"Hey, stop here." Sam was pointing down a highway exit on the way to Blackwater Ridge. "We should look for a motel for the night."

Percy had woken up about an hour into their journey and was sat in the back seat with his knees pulled up to his chest. The occasional cough still tore through his body from the smoke inhalation but seemed to have mostly subsided. It was the bloody head Sam was worried about. 

Percy had awoken dazed and confused with a pounding headache. Sam did what he could to check for a concussion but the gash was deep and long. Percy needed a hospital. Or stitches at the very least. 

"I'm fine." Percy rasped from behind them. "Keep going." 

Dean looked between his brothers. On the one hand, the faster they got to Blackwater Ridge, the faster they found Dad, but I'm the other hand... Well, to say Percy looked shocking would be an understatement. Dean was pretty sure that shirt he has on was white at some point, not grey. He has heavy bags under his eyes, rope burns from being tied to the chair, minor burns and bruises and then a massive gash along his forehead. 

"Percy..." Dean sighed. Percy glared at him. 

"Pull off, Dean." Sam looked at his older brother. 

"Keep driving." 

"Pull off."

"Keep driving." Sam turned to glare at Percy. He sat with his arms folded across his chest in defiance. 

"Don't be an idiot, Percy, you're not fine." Sam stared at Percy who squirmed uncomfortable under his brother's gaze. 

"Fine." Percy slumped back into his seat. 

"Pull off, Dean." Sam said for a final time, much more softly. 

"Right." Dean turned off the highway. He glanced up to the rear view mirror and saw Percy's face contorted into a mask of pain. "Sam." Dean nudged Sam's arm with his elbow and indicated back to Percy with his head. Sam twisted in his seat. 

"Percy?"

"I'm fine." Percy voice was strained and his breathing forced into a regular pattern. Dean pulled over into a little dirt track and stopped the car. Sam continues looking at Percy with a frown ok his face as Dean got out of the car. 

The door to Percy's left was pulled open. Dean slid in next to him. 

"Get us to a motel, Sammy." Sam nodded once, sharply, at Dean who was carefully turning Percy so he could look at the younger boy's back. Dean inhaled sharply at the right red lines across Percy's back. They were weeping slightly and looked as if they stung like hell. The binds around his ankles were still in place, attracted to the wood of the broken chair legs. Dean had completely forgotten about them. He took a minute to think about where he'd hidden the knife in the back of the Impala before he fished around to get it. Slipping it into the waistband of his jeans he noticed Sam had pulled into a parking lot. 

"I'll go get us a room." Sam cut the engine and stepped out if the car. The night air was brisk and his jacket was thin, offering little protection against the cold. Nevertheless, he tugged it around him a little tighter.

Inside the building was dark and dirty. It was easily one if the worst looking motels Sam had ever been to, and he had a lot if experience from his childhood. The clerk's back was turned away from the door with a large pair of headphones blaring music loud enough for Sam to hear. Sam cleared his throat but the clerk didn't react. 

"Hey." He said loudly but again had no reaction from the young boy with close cropped hair. Getting frustrated Sam grabbed the headphones off the boy's head and threw them across the room. "Can I get a room now?"

The clerk muttered under his breath. "Name?"

"Tony Foster." Sam lied. He smiled to himself. He liked that name, he might keep it. The boy nods and notes it down in an untidy scrawl. "Pick a room, take a key, pay when you leave." The clerk waved his hand distractedly and went back to his music. 

Sam shook his head, bit of lax way to run things but who was he to argue. He looked at the room plan. Each was represented by a box and in that box was a room number and a bed number. Sam chose the room furthest away and with two beds. He turned and grabbed the key off the rack next to the desk. 

Outside again Sam walked back over to the Impala. Dean was lifting Percy out of the back seat. 

"I got us a room." Sam jingled the keys in his hand. Dean nodded. 

"Okay," he said bringing Percy the rest of the way out of the car. "Come on, buddy." Dean grunted a little and hoisted Percy into his arms. 

"I can walk, you know." Percy grumbled. 

"You're hurt. You're not moving more than you need to." Dean said in reply. "Now, let's go." He started walking to follow Sam to the room. 

Sam unlocked the door and stepped inside. Dust covered every visible surface and probably the invisible ones too. Well, Sam thought, this won't do Percy's lungs much good. He sighed and walked over to one if the beds. He pulled off the cover and dragged it outside. 

The motel was just one long building with a raised wooden platform all the way along. A wooden railing followed the platform, gaps in it every so often as means of an entrance. 

Sam threw the cover over these railings and kicked at it, not unlike beating a rug to get the dirt out. Dust came off in clouds. When he was satisfied with it, he moved on to the next one. Dean wandered up behind him. 

"What're you doing?" He asked. 

"Everything's covered in dust. I'm trying to get rid of it." 

"All right you little clean freak. Just get the first aid kit and lock the car when you're done."

Dean had thought Sam was exaggerating when he said everything was covered in dust. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He put Percy down on the side of the closest bed then moved to look around the room. The bathroom was attached by a door directly opposite the front entrance. The only window in the room was about a metre square and the two beds lined one of the walls. 

"Crappy motels." Dean muttered angrily to himself. He walked into the bathroom and ran the tap to fill the sink. He dipped one of the hand towels into the water and made his way back over to Percy. "Take your shirt off, Percy." Percy lifted his arms above his head slowly and tugged off his shirt. Dean raised his eyebrow at the six pack on his baby brother's chest. Percy rolled his eyes. 

"Just 'cause you're all flab doesn't mean our whole family is." 

"Hey!"

"One too many pies, eh, Dean?"

"You know what? I'll let you off for that remark just this once, you know, 'cause you're concussed and all that. But next time? It's war." Dean patted Percy's knee patronisingly. "This might hurt." Dean lifted the wet cloth to Percy's forehead and dabbed at the wound. Percy hissed in pain and tried to turn his head away but Dean grabbed his jaw and held him still. Dean contemplated the depth of the cut for a while. "Yeah," he suddenly announced, "that's gonna need stitches." Percy would've thrown himself back onto the bed at this point had it not been for the burns on his back. 

The brothers heard the door click twice, once opened and once to close it. Sam dropped the first aid kit next to Percy on the bed. "I'm gonna get a shower." He mumbled. Dean frowned at Sam and made a mental note to talk to him once he'd sorted Percy out. 

The stitches didn't take as long as Dean thought they would. He remembered a time when Percy had been five and fallen off a climbing frame and onto a broken bottle. He'd cut his arm pretty deep and didn't stop crying for an hour. Dean had been fourteen or fifteen at the time and left in charge while John had gone on a hunt. The teenaged Dean had to stitch up his brother's arm like his dad had taught him to. Neither of them wanted to go to a hospital. Percy just didn't like them and Dean didn't want to answer the awkward questions. It had taken well over an hour for Dean to finish what should have been a few minute job. Percy's constant squirming had complicated things to the point that Dean had seriously been considering knocking the kid out. Percy's relationship with stitches had never gotten any better so they all avoided them as much as possible, opting for steristips instead. 

Dean grabbed a dressing out of the kit and used medical tape to stick of over the stitches.

"Do not, under any circumstances, scratch at that, okay?" Dean pointed the the wound hidden by the white pad. Percy nodded. "All right. Now turn with your back to me."

In the light it was much easier to see the damage done by the flames. They hadn't been in contact for long but a lot of the skin had either blistered, burst or turned red. Dean shook his head and used the damp cloth again to get rid of the worse of the blood and puss over his back. The disinfectant was the part that was hard. Percy hissed and squirmed when the wipes came into contact with the open wounds but Dean kept going. They didn't need Percy having an infection on top of everything else. 

Dean stood at the door and looked at his brothers. Neither of them were all right. He knew that, he wasn't blind. But they were both asleep and confrontation wouldn't help anything. Dean sighed and wandered around the room to his pile of pillows they'd built for him to sleep on now Sam and Percy were too big/injured to share. 

He shook his head as he dropped into the pillows. 

They needed to find Dad.


	3. Wendigo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm using the transcripts to help me write this because my DVDs have gone walkabout. So, if anything about who is who and what they look like etc. is wrong and my descrition is completely off. Sorry.

**Cemetery Palo Alto, California**

The sun beat down on Sam as the birds chirped happily in their trees. He stood in a black suit and tie looking down at a gravestone. The flowers in his hand were an array of things he couldn't even name, but he knew there was anything there but roses. Other than him the graveyard was empty. Deserted.

Looking down at the gravestone he read what had been written there for what must be the hundredth time.

 _Jessica Lee More_  
Beloved daughter  
January 24th 1984- November 2nd 2005

He stared down at the small picture of Jess set in the stone just above her name. It pained him to see a picture of her grinning so happily when he knew he could never see that again. He looked between the gravestone and the flowers in his hand. it was normal to talk to people at their gravestones, right? He wasn't being ridiculous or anything.

"I, uh..." He broke off, laughing slightly. At himself, mostly. He was being ridiculous and he knew it. "You always said roses were, were lame, so I brought you, uh..." Sam stuttered and stumbled over his words. He didn't know what to say or how to say it. He didn't even know what flowers he brought. "Jess... oh God." Sam sank to his knees with the flowers in his hands. "I should have protected you. I should have told you the truth." Half sobbing he leans the flowers in front of a crucifix someone had put by her grave.

Guilt curled around his gut in the most unpleasant way as he looks up at her photo again. It is soon replaced by an unnerving amount of anger towards someone. Before he can figure out who, exactly, the anger is aimed at and arm covered in dirt shot up from the ground.

It grasped at Sam's wrist and sent panicking rocketing through his body. What the-

He jerked awake with a gasp. Slowly, the inside of the Impala came into view and Sam forced his breathing to calm down. To his right masses of countryside pass them by and the his left Dean is driving. He blinked and tried to recall the dream but can't, not fully, anyway. He slouched in his seat.

"You okay?" Dean asked, looking over t his brother in concern. Sam glanced to Dean and sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Another nightmare?" Dean asked, nodding. They lapsed into a short silence. Stretched across the backseat of the car was Percy. After a week of being made to stay in a motel room while Sam and Dean went back and forth digging around for the demon, he felt fine. His back stung a little if he moved too fast and the cut on his forehead was still very much visible but it wasn't anything that a little ambrosia couldn't fix. That would be, if he had some ambrosia. His supplies had all been burned in the fire at Sam's apartment so no quick easy healing for him.

"You wanna drive for a while?" Sam contemplated his brother and laughed. From the backseat Percy raised an eyebrow at them both.

"Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that." Sam stated with a humorous lilt to his voice.

"Just thought you might want to. Never mind."

"Can I drive?" Percy leaned into the front of the Impala with an eager smile on his face. They didn't know he didn't have a licence.

"No." Both Sam and Dean spoke at the same time. They glanced at each other for a second and shrugged. That was strange.

"Look, man, you're worried about me." Sam started, going back to their earlier conversation. "I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay." Dean just hummed in reply. Sam resisted a growl at his bother's disbelieving tone and grabbed a map. "All right, where are we?"

"We are just outside of Grand junction."  Dean told him. Sam nodded and folded the map down. The map shows the entirety of Colorado with a large red X at the coordinates 35-111. Sam frowned at the map, the guilt from Jessica's death making an ugly reappearance.

"Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon." Sam almost threw the map into his lap. The thought had been rolling around his head for a while now, ever since they left, really. Percy leaned over from the back and pulled the map out of Sam's lap. He studied it for a while.  
  
"Sam," Dean resisted the urge to close his eyes and drop his head, "we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica—"

"We gotta find Dad first." Sam finished for him. Dean gave one, sharp nod in reply.

"Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence. Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do." Dean tried to reassure Sam. But the truth was that Dean wasn't sure he believed it himself.

"We're going to this big X, right?" Percy asked as he frowned at the map.

"Yeah, why?" Dean turned his head a fraction to look at his youngest sibling. Dean furrowed his brow when he saw Percy's frown. "Why're you frowning?"

"It's just..." Percy shook his head. "This place, Blackwater Ridge, it's not, well, there's nothing there. What could he possibly want us to do in the middle of nowhere?"

Sam stared out of the window again. He remembered the anger from his dream and then who it was directed at. He glared at nothing, his fists were clenched by his sides, and he was trying to resist the incredibly strong urge to shout. They drove past a National Forest sign stating, "Welcome to LOST CREEK COLORADO National Forest". Sam closed his eyes the tried to push the anger back down, they had a job to do and this wouldn't help.

Dean parked up at the Ranger Station, right next to the sign that said it. It was a small wooden building with a raised front porch. Curtains hung down the sides of the windows, barely visible from the outside. Percy was the first to jump out of the car and go inside, desperate to stretch his legs somewhere new after being cooped up for a week. Percy looked around the dingy little room. It was actually quite homey to say it was so dark inside. It was almost cabin like. He flinched t his thoughts. There was nothing left for him there anymore.

"So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote." Percy startled at Sam's voice from behind him. Sam was studying a 3D map of the area surrounding Blackwater Ridge. Percy looked around for Dean who he found looking at the decorations on the walls.

"It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place." Sam continued poking around the map and frowning.

"Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear." Dean marvelled at a picture on the wall. Sam and Percy both looked over at him.

"And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." Sam finished. Percy let out a low whistle, earning a glare from the middle brother. Percy was just about to throw some insult at him when a voice startled all three of them

"You boys aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" The Ranger's voice was gruff but not threatening. Percy regarded him. His face was clean shaven and he actually looked quite fatherly. His hair wasn't visible under the green Ranger cap but if Percy had to guess at the hair colour from what he could see he would say grey, or going that way.

"Oh, no, sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Sam filled in quickly. Just like riding a bike, you never forget how to come up with a cover story on the spot like that. Dean had been right, hunting was just like riding a bike.

"Bull. You're friends with that Haley girl, right?" Sam's eyes move to look at Dean for a brief moment.

"Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger..." Dean paused as he searched for the Ranger's name tag. "Wilkinson."

"Well I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?" Wilkinson's voice took on a slightly more aggressive tone and Percy flinched. Dean shook his head as if he was agreeing with the Ranger.

"You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine." Wilkinson waved them off.

"We will. Well that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?" Dean tried as he tried to prompt more conversation out of the man.

"That is putting it mildly."

"Actually you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date." Dean continued. they needed as much information as they could get, if there really was something out in those woods, he wanted to be ready for it. He wouldn't let either of his brothers get hurt if he could help it. And if Dad was out there, maybe this would help him too.

Dean left the Ranger Station laughing, with a piece of paper in his hand. Sam half glares at him and jogged to catch up with Percy trudged behind.

"What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam's voice was almost venomous.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked, continuing forwards happily.

"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?"

Dean pulls up short next to the driver's door to the Impala. Sam stops at the opposite side. They stare at each other, Dean confused and Sam determined.

"I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean suggested. he pauses and regards his brother again. Sam almost squirms under the gaze.

"What?" He ground out, much more happily than he felt.

"Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?"

"Since now." Sam hissed. He turns away and pulls the car door open

"Really?" Dean hummed to himself and climbed into the front seat.

Dean pulled up opposite the house belonging to 'that Haley girl'. Sam and Dean get out of the car first with Percy following behind. The eldest of the three knocked on the door which opens to reveal Haley Collins stood behind a second screen door.

"You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam, we're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy." Dean lied easily. Haley hesitates.

"Who's the kid?" She motions towards Percy.

"Oh, sorry, that's my little brother, Percy. He's just tagging along, he wants to be a Ranger too when he graduates." Percy half wants to glare at Dean but can't when it seems that the rouse worked and Haley spoke again.

"Lemme see some ID."

Dean pulled out one of his many fake IDs, this one with the name 'Samuel Cole', and held it up against the screen. Haley looked at it, then at Dean. Dean smiled in an attempt to be reassuring. Haley opened the door, "Come on in." She said, motioning them inside.

"Thanks." Dean nodded at her. The door swung inwards causing Haley to move to avoid getting hit. She caught a glimpse of the Impala and smiled a little.

"That yours?" She asked.

"Yeah." Dean answered, smirking.

"Nice car." Haley nodded appreciatively.

Haley led the three into the kitchen. A younger boy sat at the table, probably around Percy's age, on a laptop.

"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Sam directed the question to Haley who was coming into the room holding bowls to place on the table.

"He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven't heard anything in over three days now." She looked towards her younger brother, her eyes filled with sadness.

"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?"

"He wouldn't do that." Ben snapped from the table. Dean eyed Ben and the younger boy looked away.

"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other." Haley explained. Something about the words struck Percy too close to home and both of his brothers noticed it. Percy closed his eyes against the torrent of emotions raging through his body.

"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asked quickly, directing the attention of the rooms occupants onto him.

"Yeah." Haley led Sam over to the laptop that sat on a desk by the window. "That's Tommy." She double clicked and another picture popped up. He was fairly young with dark hair and eyes to match. There was a chord necklace around his neck and he had a red t-shirt on. The next image was a still frame from a video.

"Hey Haley," it started, "day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow." The man in the video ended with an easygoing grin but that wasn't what Sam was focusing on. He had spotted a shadow flicking past in the background, it was only short, not even a second, but he saw it.

"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing."

"Then maybe I'll see you there." Dean raised an eyebrow at Haley's response. " Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

"I think I know how you feel." Dean nodded.

"Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam pointed to the files of Tommy on the screen. If Haley thought it was a strange request for two rangers to make she didn't say anything.

"Sure."

 

The boys hid in the back of a bar in town. The sun had set and they were all a little on edge. There was something not right about all of this, not that it was new for there to be something not right when it involved the Winchesters, but it was their kind of not right. This was why their dad had sent them here.

"So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found." Sam started explaining. He opened up John's journal they had gotten on their previous hunt.

"Any before that?" Dean asked, leaning closer to get a good look at the book. Percy stayed right where he was, all this family being there for each other stuff was not helping his current mental state. He groaned and rubbed at his temples, he needed to get in contact with Nico some time soon, if only to let him know that he was safe.

"Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack." Sam made sure his disbelief of this came through in his voice. Sam pulled out a newspaper article to show Dean from _The Lost Creek Gazette_.

**GRIZZLY BEAR ATTACKS!**   
_UP TO EIGHT HIKERS VANISH IN LOST CREEK AREA_   
_HIKERS DISAPPEARANCE BAFFLE AUTHORITIES'_   
_Families continue search and rescue efforts in spite of disappointing [...]_

Sam reached down by his legs and pulled out his laptop. He started clicking around as he spoke. "And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936." Sam pulled up Tom's video. "Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out."

Dean watched as his brother clicked through three frames of the video, one by one. They showed a shadow crossing the screen but there wasn't much else you could make out from the shape.

"Do it again." Dean commanded. Sam complied and clicked through the frames for a second time.

"That's three frames." He states rather pointlessly. "That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move." Dean hit Sam around the head.

"Told you something weird was going on." He gloated.

"Yeah." Sam closed the laptop and put it back on the floor. "I got one more thing." He handed Dean a second newspaper article. He waited for his brother to skim it before he spoke again.

"In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive."

"Where is he now?" Percy suddenly added to the conversation. Sam and Dean startled as if they'd forgotten Percy was there.

"Still around, it seems." Sam mumbled. Dean looked between his younger brothers and clapped his hands to break the awkward silence they had lapsed into.

"Let's go then."

The Impala crunched its way down the gravel drive towards a shabby looking cabin on the edge of town. Even further into the night than it had been when the boys entered the bar, the blackness that surrounded them stopped them from seeing their hands in front of their faces.

Percy grabbed a torch out of the back of the car as he got out and used it to illuminate their way to the front door. their knock was answered by an old man, Mr. Shaw. He had stubble lining his face and thick bushy eyebrows. His hair was white and stuck up in tufts on his head. He led the boys inside and started talking to them.

"Look, ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a—" Shaw said when through the cigarette in his mouth.

"Grizzly? That's what attacked them?" Sam interrupted. Shaw took a puff from his cigarette and nodded.

"The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?" Dean pressed. This man wasn't going to tell them anything without them pressing him, he'd probably been ridiculed for ever suggesting that it might have been something different. And he was a kid when it happened, he probably learned to just stop mentioning it and tell anyone that asked that it was a grizzly, even if he didn't believe that himself.

"What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Dean continued after a pause. "We knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it."

"I seriously doubt that." Shaw scoffed as he sat down. "You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did." Sam got a look in his eye, the one that Dean knew meant Sam should take over because this was about emotions now, people. Two things that Dean wasn't good at dealing with.

"Mr. Shaw, what did you see?" Sam asked gently.

"Nothing." Shaw said after another pause. He sounded ashamed, he looked ashamed, and avoided eye contact. "It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like...no man or animal I ever heard."

"It came at night?" Shaw nodded at Sam. "Got inside your tent?" He continued.

"It got inside our cabin." Shaw's voice was harsh and raw, full of emotions that had been left to fester for years. "I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that?" Shaw sounded desperate but angry, it almost came out as a hiss. "I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming."

"It killed them?"

"Dragged them off into the night." Shaw nodded as he reached for his collar. "There's something evil in those woods." he pulled his collar down past his shoulder to reveal three long scars across his chest. "It was some sort of a demon."

The motel room was small. Percy sat on one of the two beds while his oldest brother paced the length of the room.

"Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors." Dean ranted. "If they want inside, they just go through the walls."

"So something else? Something with a form, something physical?" Percy suggested.

"Corporeal." Sam added in the word his brother was looking for. "So what do you think?"

"It's fast and it has claws, what do we know that's fast and has claws?" the three looked at each other in turn until, after some contemplation, Dean cam up with an answer.

"Could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it."

"Yeah, but how will we know what to take?" Percy wondered from the bed. Dean shrugged.

"I guess we take some of everything."

_Flames ate their way through the forest, bodies laid scattered on the floor, some dead, some wounded, and some exhausted. Each one getting closer and closer to being charred unless they moved. Percy looked around wildly in every direction, the fire was almost at the borders. He screamed out for his friends, for anyone. The face of an elderly woman formed from the flames. She sneered at him and laughed manically._

_"You're no hero, Jackson. And by the time this is over, they'll all know it."_

_"No!"_

Percy woke up gasping for breath. Sunlight filtered through the gap in the middle of the curtains and onto his face. the clock read 6:07 am. Percy groaned as his stomach flipped and he raced into the bathroom. He threw up what little content there was in his stomach and felt worse for it. He rested his head on the cool tile of the bathroom before he hauled himself off the floor.

He scrounged around the bottom of the duffel that Dean had thrown what was left of his stuff into the night of the fire. He'd checked it a hundred times for drachma and never found one, the only place he hadn't checked was the pocket of the jeans he was wearing that night. Miraculously, and rather clichéd, in Percy's opinion, he found a drachma in the back pocket. He flipped the coin in the air and left the room. He had a call to make.

Sam was next to wake up, only fifteen minutes after Percy due to his own nightmare. He frowned when he didn't see the youngest boy asleep in his bed. He padded to the bathroom and found that he wasn't there either. There was a brief moment of panic until he glanced through the window. He saw Percy sat on the back of the Impala with his back to him and making wild gestures in the air with his hands.

Sam slipped out of the door to the room and started moving towards Percy.

"-still looking for you. This is dangerous."

"They won't find me." Sam heard Percy say.

"How can you be sure? Do you have any idea what they'll do to you if they find you?" Sam didn't know who the voice belonged to but it was obviously male.

"Yes, and that's why I'm staying protected." There was a lull in the conversation and Sam was about to interrupt and pretend he hadn't heard anything when the mystery boy spoke.

"The whole camp heard about Jess." Sam saw Percy visibly flinch. He inched forward, if this was about Jess then he wanted to know. "They know you were there. They think..."

"I know what they'll think." Percy whispered brokenly. "Are her... How're the rest of Athena's kids holding up?"

"They're grieving." The second voice said after a moments hesitation. "A blow like that just after Anna- sorry. It's not good." Sam saw Percy nod from behind as he swiped his arm out in front of him and dropped his head. Not sure what Percy was going to do next but knowing that he didn't want to be caught eavesdropping, he hurried back to the door of the motel room and peeked out of it as if looking for Percy.

"Percy?" Sam called from the door. Percy's head snapped up from it's position on his knees. he spun around quickly, tense and ready for a fight. Sam watched as that all leaked away from his body when he saw who it was. He waved a hand and jumped off the car, following Sam back into the room.

The Impala pulled up at the edge of the forest. There are three people there already, Haley, Ben, and an older man. Sam, Dean, and Percy got out of the car, Percy pulling out a duffel bag with him.

"You guys got room for a few more?" Dean asked, grinning.

"Wait, you want to come with us?" Haley shook her head.

"Who are these guys?" The older man asked.

"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Haley rolled her eyes. Sam walked past the group of three and started looking around up ahead. Percy hung back by the Impala, the implications of his earlier conversation reeling in his mind. _If they find me._ Percy shook his head. They wouldn't find him, he was protected. He was with his family. But he couldn't stop thinking about how dangerous he was making things. If they found him, it wouldn't be pretty, but if they found his brothers too... he had no idea what would happen.

"Roy," Haley inclined her head to the older man, "this is Sam, Dean, and Percy."

"You're rangers?" Roy asked sceptically.

"That's right." Dean grinned.

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley eyed Dean's lack of appropriate attire.7

"Well, sweetheart, I don't do shorts."

"What, you think this is funny? It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt." Roy spoke angrily. Percy started walking to follow his oldest brother past the rest of the group.

"Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be." Dean fixed Roy with a harsh glare. "We just wanna help them find their brother, that's all."

Roy led the group, then Dean, Haley, Ben, Sam, and Percy at the end. Sam kept turning at regular intervals to check on Percy. He knew he was angry at the kid, and that the anger was unjustified and stupid, he couldn't have stopped the demon killing Jess on his own. But he could've _tried_. Sam shook himself. Percy was 17. he couldn't put that kind of pressure on his shoulders. Sam noticed the ballpoint pen Percy was fiddling with in his hand. he knew Percy didn't read or write much, he was dyslexic, so what was he doing carrying around a pen? Especially in the middle of a forest.

"Roy, you said you did a little hunting." Sam turned his attention back to the rest of the group. Dean was striking up a conversation with Roy at the front.

"Yeah, more than a little." Roy answered defensively.

"Uh-huh. What kind of furry critters do you hunt?" Sam resisted groaning when he realised where this conversation was heading, he almost wanted to stop Dean from saying it but didn't.

"Mostly buck, sometimes bear." Roy shrugged.

"Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Roy grabbed Dean's arm and almost pulls him backwards. "Whatcha doing, Roy?" Roy silently grabbed a stick and pokes it just in front of Dean. A bear trap closed around the wood with a snap making the groups realise that Dean nearly stepped in it.

"You should watch where you're stepping. Ranger." Roy half slurred the last word. he dropped the stick to the ground and takes the lead again.

The group continued to hike in silence. Haley made her way closer to Dean and glared at him in accusation.

"You didn't pack any provisions. You guys are carrying a  _duffel_  bag. You're not rangers." She snapped. She grabbed Dean's arm, and he was getting pretty sick of people grabbing his arm today, to hiss in his ear. "So who the hell are you?"

Ben walked past Haley with a frown, followed closely by Sam. Sam gave Dean a strange look as he walked past but Dean's expression told him to go on ahead, so he did. Percy stopped short just behind Dean and Haley and didn't move at Dean's nod of the head. Dean shook his head and turned to talk to Haley.

"We're brothers, and we're looking for our father. He might be here, we don't know. I just figured that you and me, we're in the same boat." Dean watched Sam walking up ahead and turned back to Percy who had begun moving forward. "Percy, he's only 17, I just didn't want him to face the looks, you know?"

"Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?" Haley folded her arms across her chest.

"I'm telling you now. 'sides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman. ...ever. So we okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean grinned. Haley looked at him confused as he pulled out a bag of M&Ms. He stuck his hand inside and grabbed a handful which he then threw into his mouth.

"This is it. Blackwater Ridge." Roy announced about an hour later.

"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked as he scanned the area.

"Thirty-five and minus one-eleven." Roy said after he pulled out a GPS to study.

"Not even crickets." Dean murmured to Sam.

Sam, Dean, Ben, and Haley looked around near a large rock. Percy had taken it upon himself to keep an eye out for anything that might attack them so he could get away from people.

"Haley! Over here!" Roy's sudden shout caused Percy to jump. The whole group ran towards Roy and came to a halt.

"Oh my God." Haley whispered. The group stood at the edge of a campsite. The tents are shredded and the supplies littered the floor. There was nothing that had been left untouched by whatever had done this. Blood was splattered over everything in sight. Ben turned into his sister's shoulder and the three brothers exchanged a look.

"Looks like a grizzly." Roy informed them form his position on the ground, rifling through what was left.

"Tommy?" Haley yelled desperately. She threw her backpack to the ground and called out again. Sam jogged to Haley.

"Shh-hh-hh!" Sam hushed.

"Why?" Haley glared at him.

"Something might still be out there." Sam told her. Dean walked over to his brother.

"The bodies were dragged from the campsite." He whispered so Haley couldn't hear. Percy followed behind Dean and whispered as well.

"That's no skinwalker or black dog." Percy shook his head. "So what is it?"

Dean shrugged and wandered back over to Roy and Ben. Haley picked up a cell phone, Tommy's, that's covered in blood. She choked on her tears as they ran down her face.

"Hey, he could still be alive." Dean tried to comfort her. The group lapsed into silence as Haley sobbed.

"Help! Help!" Every one of the six head snapped up simultaneously. Dean and Haley scrambled up from the ground to follow in the direction Roy had run in with the others. "Help! Somebody!" The voice shouts again. Roy comes to a stop in the middle of a clearing. There was no one there. They looked around the clearing again.

"It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Haley asked no one in particular.

"Everybody back to camp." Sam yelled.

The campsite is empty when they get there. Sam growled as Haley yelled, "Our packs! What the hell is going on?"

"It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help." Sam stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Sam went over to Dean and Percy. "I need to speak with you. In private." The three left the group a few metres behind them. "Good. Let me see Dad's journal." Sam held his hand out to Dean who held the duffel. Sam flipped through the pages with a look of concentration on his face. "All right, check that out."

"Oh come on, wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or, or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west." Dean scoffed at the page Sam handed to him and passed the journal over to Percy.

"I've never faced one of these before." Percy muttered as he read the passage.

"Sure you did, back in... Actually, no, you haven't." Dean pulled up short at the look from his brothers. Sam shook his head as if trying to shake something off.

"Think about it, Dean, the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice."

"So what's gonna kill it?" Percy asked.

"Well," Dean pulled a pistol out, "not this." Percy passed Dean the journal back to put in his bag.

"We gotta get these people to safety." Sam insisted.  Back at the campsite, Sam addressed the group.

"All right, listen up, it's time to go. Things have gotten...more complicated."

"Kid, don't worry. Whatever's out there, I think I can handle it." Sam scoffed at Roy. he was lucky, Sam thought, to not know about the things that really went bump in the night.

"We never should have let you come out here in the first place. I'm trying to protect you."

"You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you good night." Roy snorted.

"Yeah?" Sam sneered. Something about the mention of his mother set something off in Sam. "It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here."

"You know you're crazy, right?" Roy laughed in his face.

"Yeah? You ever hunt a wen-"

"Stop. Stop it." Haley snapped. "Everybody just stop. Look. Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him." Her statement was met with a long, tense silence.

"It's getting late." Dean eventually said. "This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves."

They built a fire in the middle of a clearing. Dean had drawn something in the dirt around the campsite while Haley sat poking at the fire.

"One more time, that's—" Haley started as she studied the marking Dean had made on the ground.

"Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross over them." Dean's answer was met with a laugh from Roy. He had is gun over his shoulder and was sat away from the rest of the group. "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy." Dean threw over his shoulder with a glare.

"You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" Dean asked as he slid down next to Sam.

"Dean—"

"No, you're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man, it's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"

"Dad's not here." Sam tried avoiding the real question. "I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?"

"Yeah, you're probably right." Dean conceded. He wasn't going to get anything else out of his brother. "Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek." Sam looked up to where Percy was silhouetted by the glow of the fire. He was the only one sat alone in the group. Haley had moved herself and Ben to sit with Roy and he was with Dean.

"What do you think's going on with him?" Sam nodded towards Percy.

"Hm? Oh." Dean stared at Percy for a minute. "I don't know." He shook his head. "It's definitely something. Maybe Dad knows."

"Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?"

"This is why. This book." Dean held John's journal in front of Sam's face. "This is Dad's single most valuable possession—everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business."

"Why doesn't he just—call us?" Sam shook his head. "Why doesn't he—tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?"

"I dunno. But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it."

"Dean...no. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about." Sam ran a hand through his hair and shook his head.

"Okay, all right, Sam, we'll find them, I promise. You've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man." Dean sighed. "So what are we gonna do about him?" Dean's eyes burned into the back of Percy's head. before Sam can answer a twig snaps in the distance.

"Help me! Please!" Someone shouts from a distance. "Help!" Dean stood up as Sam shined a flashlight about.

"He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put." Dean told the group.

"Inside the magic circle?" Roy rolled his eyes. He didn't believe any of what was going on. These three brothers were obviously madmen but he would humour them, if only to make sure Haley and Ben stayed safe.

"Help! Help me!" The voice shouted again. Growling starts in the distance and Roy points his gun at the sound.

"Okay, that's no grizzly." He stuttered. Something rushes past the group causing Haley to shriek. Roy shot at the rustling. Dean flinched. Stupid thing to do, he shouldn't have left Roy with the gun.

"I hit it!" He cheered as he walked over to see what he had hit.

"Roy, no! Roy!" Dean yelled. Percy followed Roy out of the circle, the guy may be a dick but someone had to try protect him. "Percy!" Dean made a frustrated growl. "Don't move." Sam and Dean ran after Roy and Percy. It was hard to see in the darkness of the dense forest but luckily they hadn't gone far and they found them relatively quickly.

"It's over here! It's in the tree!" Roy yelled. Percy was stood a metre to his left and widened the gap with a jump when the wendigo reached down from the tree. It snapped Roy's neck with a snap and let him slump to the ground.

"Roy!" Dean ran up to the body. Sam swung the flashlight around the trees but nothing came out. Sam pushed the flashlight into the waistband of his jeans and jogged over to Percy.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." Percy snapped as he jerked Sam out of his way. "Let's get back to the campsite. I'll take first watch." Sam nodded mutely at his brother as he led them back to Haley and Ben.

Percy did, in fact, take first watch, and second, and third. In reality, Percy never went to sleep that night. He thought the nightmares had stopped but since last night, obviously they hadn't. It was better for him not to sleep, anyhow, it gave him time to think. He should stop IMing Nico, if anyone ever found out it would land him exiled at the very least.

"I don't...I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real." Haley said the next morning. Percy looked up tiredly from his position. He tried to shake the fatigue from his body so his brothers wouldn't notice.

"I wish I could tell you different."

"How do you know about this stuff?" She asked Dean as she sat down next to him.

"Kind of runs in the family." Dean shrugged.

"Hey," Sam walked over,"So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch."

"Well, hell, you know I'm in."

"'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'." Sam read from John's journal.

"They're hundreds of years old." Dean added to the information his brother was giving Haley and Ben. "Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter. It's always the same. During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."

"Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality."

"If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry." Dean added another bit of info.

"So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?" Haley wanted to know. Dean exchanged a look with Sam.

"You're not gonna like it." Dean sighed. "More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there."

"And then how do we stop it?"

"Guns don't work." Percy spoke as he walked over to the group. "Neither do knives." Sam, Haley and Dean looked up at Percy. "We need fire."

"Thought you'd never hunted one of these before." Sam questioned.

"I haven't." Percy shrugged. "I did some reading." His brothers looked at him sceptically. "It took a while, okay?"

Dean nodded and held up the can of lighter fluid, the beer bottle, and the white cloth he'd picked up.

"We're all set."

Sam led the group through the forest awhile later. They'd passed trees with claw marks and blood and shuddered at each one.  Sam called Dean forward and gestured around. They looked around at the trees. There were bloody claw marks and broken branches everywhere. Dean narrowed his eyes.

"You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow." Sam's voice wavered. There was growling, the same as from the previous night and the boys whipped around as the trees started to rustle. Everyone froze in position and the growling continued.

"Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!" Dean yelled.

Ben fell and Sam hurried back to help him up.

"You okay?" Ben nodded at Sam who looked up but the rest of the group was gone. "Come on, I gotcha, I gotcha."

Up ahead Dean and Haley stop dead. Between them and Percy is the wendigo. Haley screamed at the grotesque figure in front of her. Percy spun around as claws ripped through his chest. The pain was blinding as he spun and fell to the ground thinking, why am I always the one who gets hurt?

"Haley?" Ben shouted. Sam and Ben ran forwards.

"Dean! Percy!"

"If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?" Ben asked Sam as the hunted around for any sign of their missing companions.

"Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off."

"They went this way." Ben announced. He had found a trail of M&Ms leading away from the sight of the capture. Ben handed Sam one causing him to laugh.

"It's better than breadcrumbs." He shrugged.

Sam and Ben followed the trail of brightly coloured candy to an abandoned mine shaft with warning signs telling people to keep out. Neither payed these signs any attention and they carried on.

In front of the the mine was pitch black. The only light coming in filtered from behind them. Sam shone the flashlight ahead of them. Sudden growling caused Sam to shut off the light and push Ben against the wall. 

Sam covered Ben's mouth with his hand before he could scream. The wendigo was coming towards them but took a different tunnel at the crossing. Sam let his hand drop from Ben's mouth and they continued on their way.

The floorboards creaked under their weight and Ben and Sam fell through the floor; they landed in a pile of bones. There is another pile nearby of skulls. Ben saw them and, eyes wide, jumped away from them. 

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Sam tried to soothe him but in all honesty, the skulls were freaking him out a little too. 

"Dean!" Sam cheered when he looked up and found his brother hanging from the ceiling. Ben looked up as well and saw Haley opposite him. He rushed towards her. 

"Haley, wake up!" He patted the sides of her face.

Sam grabbed Dean and shook him in an attempt to wake him up. "Dean!"

Dean blinked and glanced around for a while before his eyes settled on Sam. 

"Hey, you okay?" Sam asked as he checked his brother for any visible injury. Dean winced and moved away when Sam's hand hit his ribs. 

"Yeah." He lied. Behind them Ben was begging his sister to wake up. Sam cut Dean down and handed the knife over to Ben to get Haley. 

Sam and Ben led their siblings to a clear patch in the floor and set them down. Dean winced and groaned as his torso was jolted. 

"You sure you're all right?" Sam asked. 

Dean grimaced but nodded anyway. 

"Yeah. Yep. Where is Percy?"

Sam looks around the room wildly for a moment. In his moment of joy at finding one brother alive he forgot about the other. He spied his second brother just a few feet to the right of where Dean had been hanging. He raced over to the limp form and tried to wake him up. 

"Annabeth!" Percy gasped as he woke. He bit his tongue to hold back the pained scream that wanted to tear from his lungs but didn't manage to muffle the moan when Sam touched his chest. 

"It's okay, I gotcha." Sam whispered as he wound an arm around Percy's back and under his arms. With his free arm he worked at the rope around Percy's wrists. Percy dropped into his brother's arms in a heap. Sam carried Percy over to Dean who shook his head. 

"Why's it always you, kid?" 

"I've been asking myself the same thing for years." Percy half laughed. 

Haley stood up and spotted Tommy still hanging from the ceiling.

"Tommy..." She whispered as she started crying. Whether it was in relief or pain or anguish, none of the boys knew. She slowly walked over to him and touched his cheek. 

Tommy's head jerked up. 

Haley shrieked and jumped back, not expecting her brother to respond so quickly, or even at all. 

"Cut him down!" Haley demanded. Sam nodded and walked over to Haley to cut Tommy down. The man slumped down to the floor and Haley followed, wrapping him up in a hug as she did so. "We're gonna get you home." 

Dean noticed the stolen supplies piled in the corner. He rifled through the packs until he came across something useful. 

"Check it out."

Sam looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Flare guns. Those'll work."

They headed down a tunnel with Dean and Sam in the lead holding the flare guns and Haley and Ben supported a limpingTommy. Percy followed at the back pretending his pain didn't exist as they trudged through the mine. He knew that if Dean knew how much he just wanted to collapse he'd carry Percy in favour of using the flare and that wouldn't be good for any of them in the long run. 

"Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean nodded towards the wendigo coming around the corner

"All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here." Dean nodded to his younger brother. 

"What are you gonna do?" Haley asked. 

Dean winked at her and started yelling. "Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I taste  _good_." He walked away from the group until his words became indistinguishable. 

Sam led the rest of the group away and towards same semblance of safety. 

The five of them hurried down a tunnel to their right and nearly cheered when they saw a faint bit of light coming from the end of it. But then they heard the growling they had become uncomfortably familiar with in the sat few hours. 

Sam lifted the flare gun and turned to Haley, lowering it slightly for a second. 

"Get him outta here." He inclined his head towards Tommy. His face was pale and sweat was lining his brow. He needed medical attention and Sam wanted to make sure he got it. 

"Sam, no." Haley tried to argue but it was no use. Sam had made up his mind and she didn't want to die here. 

"Go!  _Go!_  Go!" Sam yelled at them. 

Haley and Ben helped Tommy along the mine tunnel. He limped between them both but risked a glance back at the man who was saving them. He help the flare gun ready to shoot at whatever came down the tunnel. But hr was talking as well.

"Come on. Come on."

Growling, too close for comfort this time, caused Sam to spin around. The wendigo was right in his face, the stench if rotting flesh burned at his nostrils as he let off a shot.

It missed. 

Sam grabbed Percy's arm and pulled him up the tunnel with him. Now that he didn't have a gun the only priority he had was his little brother, no matter how rocky their relationship seemed to be. 

"Come on, hurry, hurry, hurry." 

They ran to the end of the tunnel. Which really was an end. The light they had seen had been coming through a hole above them, not the exit.

Sam panicked. "Get behind me." He commanded, as if it would really do anything for them against the wendigo who was leisurely taking his time to approach. Sam wanted to close his eyes and run away. But he couldn't. He had to help these people and find their dad so he could find the thing that killed Jess. 

Dean came up behind the wendigo.

"Hey!" He called. 

The wendigo turned. Dean aimed the flare at the creature and shot it in the stomach. Slowly, the flare went off and took the wendigo up in flames with it. 

"Not bad, huh?" 

Sam grinned at Dean in relief. It was over. 

outside of the ranger's station an ambulance loaded up Tommy. Two police officers were interviewing Ben while Sam stood behind him. Percy was carefully hidden in the car, seeing the claw marks on his chest would raise more questions than any of them would've felt comfortable answering. 

"And the bear came back again after you yelled at it?" And officer asked. 

"That's when it circled the campsite. I mean, this grizzly must have weighed eight hundred, nine hundred pounds".

Ben looked to Sam who nodded.

"All right, we'll go after it first thing." The officer assured them. 

"Thanks." Sam headed over to Dean who was already waiting on the good of the Impala. "We are gonna find Dan, Sammy. I promise you that." Sam nodded to his brother as they opened their doors almost in sync with each other. Time to hit the road again.  


	4. Episode 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO the chapter is taking longer than anticipated because I've had to revise for mock exams, so I present you with the first half and I will get the rest up ASAP. It's at the top of my to do list

The three Winchesters sat in a booth in a restaurant, Percy on one side with Sam and Dean on the other. Percy had scars now running across his chest but everything had healed in the weeks they had stayed off the road. He hadn’t contacted Nico since the motel before Blackwater Ridge and he wasn’t planning on doing so ever again. No matter how much he missed him. But with not contacting Nico his nightmares had gotten worse. Some of them now depicted scenes of Nico being found out and tortured for his location and it terrified Percy. It was best if he stayed away.

There was a mostly empty plate in front of Dean, who was circling obituaries in a newspaper. 

CARLTON, SOPHIE -The Carlton family is sad to announce the death of their beloved daughter in a tragic swimming accident. Sophie Carlton, 18, was swimming in Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin, when she drowned in the lake. 

Dean glanced up from the obituary when he noticed someone in the corner of his eye. It is a woman, a waitress at the diner named Wendy. 

"Can I get you anything else?" Wendy asked. Dean looked up from the newspaper obituaries. He had a pen lid in his mouth and was chewing on it but managed to grin anyway. Wendy smiled back at Dean and held her pen ready to take another order, or phone number. Percy shrank back in his seat as Sam threw his older brother a dirty look.

"Just the check, please." Sam said before Dean could get a word in. Wendy stepped back a little at Sam's voice, not expecting anyone but Dean to speak. 

"Okay." She nodded. 

Dean watched as she walked away and dropped his head onto the table. Percy snickered from his corner as Dean life's his head to glare at Sam. 

"You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while." He looked back to where Wendy stood a few feet away. She was wearing a skin right vest top and very short denim shorts. "That's fun." He clarified. Sam ignored his brother and took a sip of his coffee. Percy poked at the food in front of him. His pale blue T-shirt covered the long red scars across his chest from his last supernatural encounter, slowly fading with the help of water. 

"Here, take a look at this, I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water; nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago." Dean told them. Percy's eyes widened. He'd not been near a lake or river or any other body of water in weeks and he wasn't planning on starting now. He could be tracked, probably, through water. 

"Funeral?" Sam asked as he glanced at Percy's expression with distracted curiosity. 

"Yeah, it's weird, they buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure or whatever." Dean waved a hand. 

"Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them." Sam looked pointedly at Dean and it didn't go unnoticed. 

"Something you want to say to me?" 

"The trail for Dad. It's getting colder every day." Sam pointed out. It had been weeks since their last lead and all that had gotten them was a run in with a wendigo. 

"Exactly. So what are we supposed to do?" 

"I don't know. Something. Anything." Sam ran a hand through his hair, letting his frustration show. 

"You know what?" Dean slammed his hand down on the table. Percy flinched at the sound, he didn't like where he saw this argument going but if he ended up getting involved, he knew which side he would take. "I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do?" Percy noticed they were starting to draw attention form the other occupants in the diner. 

"Yeah, I know you do, it's just—" 

"I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies. We will find Dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?" Percy noticed the bitterness in Dean's tone and knew that it could easily be applied to him if he were in Sam's position. It probably wouldn't, but it could, and he knew how much that must sting. 

Sam rolled his eyes as Wendy walked past them again, successfully distracting Dean from their argument. 

"All right, Lake Manitoc." Sam started changing the subject. "Hey!" he called when Dean didn't reply. 

"Huh?" 

"How far?" Percy sighed and prepared himself for another long trip. 

 

Percy rested his head on the cool glass of the window as they drove towards Wisconsin. He closed his eyes and let himself drift off into sleep. Looking back, it wasn't the smartest idea. 

The flames were still burning everything in their path, only this time, Percy was helpless to stop it. His arms and legs were held fast to a chair in the distance, a gag in his mouth stopped him from calling out. This was it and he knew it. the last thing Gaia needed to win. She needed him to fall. 

She'd taken to possessing demigods so she could walk on the earth, much like the demons Percy remembered from when he was a kid. It was unnerving, she could be anyone and anywhere and they would have no idea. 

"Can't you see it now, Percy? Can't you see what Jessica has done?" And, unfortunately, he could. 

They drove past a sign that read "Welcome to Lake Manitoc WI." and Percy startled awake. Dean looked up into the rear view mirror as Sam looked at Percy from the side mirror. Neither of them said a word but they both frowned at the haggard appearance of Percy's face. Neither knew what was going on in their little brother's mind. But they weren't brave enough to ask for fear of it making matters worse. 

 

The Carlton house was more of a shack on the edge of the lake. It was painted green and red with a raised porch. Dean cut the Impala's engine and stepped out of the car. Sam and Percy followed a few seconds after. Dean knocked on the door. They waited a few seconds before a young man, Will Carlton, opened it. 

Will had short dark hair and eyes to match. He looked to be in his early twenties, probably not much older than Sam, Dean thought. He wore a crew neck, grey shirt and a tatty pair of jeans. 

"Will Carlton?" Dean asked. 

"Yeah, that's right." Will answered as he leaned against the door frame. He eyed the three Winchesters warily. 

"I'm Agent Ford. This is Agent Hamill." Dean gestured to himself and Sam. "We're with the US Wildlife Service." he smiled as he held up an ID. 

"Who's the kid?" Will inclined his head to Percy. Dean turned around as if he had forgotten Percy was there. 

"I'm Percy." Percy held his hand out for Will to shake. "Agent Ford is my brother, I'm just helping out." Percy smiled confidently and Dean couldn't fault the way he had presented the lie. In fact, he was pretty damn proud how quickly Percy had thought, especially how close to the truth he had got it. 

Will nodded. "I guess you're here about Sophie?" Dean nodded. "Follow me, I'll show you where it happened." 

An older man sat on a bench on the dock. Bill Carlton was staring out to the lake. "She was about a hundred yards out. That's where she got dragged down." Will told them. 

"And you're sure she didn't just drown?" Dean asked. Will looked offended. 

"Yeah. She was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She was as safe out there as in her own bathtub." 

"So no splashing? No signs of distress?" Sam asked. Will shook his head. 

"No, that's what I'm telling you." Percy paid only half of his attention on the conversation at hand.

Looking out to the lake sent shivers down his spine. He was mere feet away from being discovered, by everyone, and it scared him. 

It was nice, every once in a while, to pretend everything was like it was when he was younger and he was travelling around America with his family hunting things. Not being the one hunted. 

"Did you see any shadows in the water? Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?" Sam asked.

"No. Again, she was really far out there." 

"You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean asked. Percy thought that with questions like that they were always close to someone calling them out. Maybe not in this particular situation, but on some occasions.

“No, never. Why? Why, what do you think's out there?” Will asked worriedly. 

“We'll let you know as soon as we do.” Dean turned away to head back to the car. 

"What about your father?" Sam's sudden voice startled him into turning back. "Can we talk to him?" Sam continued. Will looked between Bill and the brothers. He bit his lip a little bit. 

"Look, if you don't mind, I mean...he didn't see anything and he's kind of been through a lot." 

"We understand." Sam nodded. 

 

Percy was ecstatic to leave the lake behind him. He turned down going to the police station with his brothers, it was getting harder to act as he normally would have on a hunt the longer he was close to the water. He hated it. The place he once found such sanctuary was now the cause of his misery. 

He knew the longer he spent with his brothers, that they would eventually begin to notice his behaviour, and then questions would crop up. Questions he wouldn't ever want to answer. They knew something about camp, but he wasn't entirely sure what their father had told them about it. Would they want to hunt him, if they knew? Would they see him as one of the monsters? His friends? He scoffed. Friends. Friends that didn't even believe what he said. Friends that were quite happy to chain him up for someone to blame. Yeah, those friends. 

He supposed he wouldn't mind if his brothers decided demi-gods needed getting rid of. He'd protect himself, he'd protect Nico, and that would be it. At that moment, the rest could all fall into Tartarus for all he cared. He'd regret thinking that laters, he knew it, bitterness wasn't really his style. He was loyal to a fault and he knew he'd forgive them as soon as they said the word 'sorry'. And he hated himself for it. But there was one person he might not be able to forgive, and the knowledge was weighing on him heavily the longer he spent travelling. 

 

The local police station was small and fairly run down. Dean looked at Sam before he got out of the Impala and went through the front door. He poked around inside for a while before a man with short, grey hair, and a stern looking face came out of an office. He seemed to take a while to look both Sam and Dean up and down, trying to determine what they wanted there. 

"Something I can help you with?" He asked gruffly. Dean startled and looked up to face him. 

"Uh, yes, we're looking for the sheriff." Dean said after a moment. 

"Well you're talking to him. Sheriff Jake Devins. Now what is it that you boys want?" Devins eyed them both suspiciously. 

"We're with Wildlife Services." Sam started. "We've been sent to look into the death of Sophie Carlton, out on Lake Manitoc?" 

"Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" Jake asked. 

"You sure it's accidental?" Sam quirked an eyebrow. "Will Carlton saw something grab his sister." 

"Like what?" Jake led Sam and Dean into his office. It was a small room with a desk and three chairs, one behind and two in front. They were made from worn leather with high backs, and arm rests. Jake motioned for the boys to sit down. 

"Here, sit, please. There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake. There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person, unless it was the Loch Ness Monster."

"Yeah," Dean laughs a little. "Right."

"Will Carlton was traumatized, and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still," Jake said as he sat down behind his desk. Sam glanced at Dean and then turned his attention back to Jake. "We dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there." 

Sam frowned, that can't be right, there had to be something, unless… Sam wasn't going to start forming theories yet but this definitely couldn’t be passed of as a normal drowning, not anymore. "That's weird, though, I mean, that's, that's the third missing body this year." Dean pointed out in an attempt to get more information.

"I know." Jake nodded. "These are people from my town. These are people I care about." Jake sighed and leant his arms on the desk. 

"Anyway, this… it won't be happening much longer." 

"What do you mean?" Jake stared at Dean and cocked his head to the side. 

"Well, the dam, of course." 

"Of course, the dam. It's, uh, it sprung a leak." Dean guessed. Jake just stared at him again. 

"It's falling apart, and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town, either. But as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that." 

A young woman with long, dark hair tapped on the door. She was pretty, and she looked down and blushed a little when she stepped into the room. Sam and Dean stood as she entered the room. 

"Sorry, am I interrupting? I can come back later." 

"Gentlemen," Jake smiled. "This is my daughter." "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Dean." Dean reached out to shake her hand. 

"Andrea Barr. Hi." She replied. 

"Hi." 

"They're from the Wildlife Service. About the lake." Jake told his daughter. 

A boy walked in around Andrea. 

"Oh, hey there." Dean crouched and smiled at him. "What's your name?" The boy walked away without speaking as Andrea followed him out of the room.

"His name is Lucas." Jake said to Dean once they're left. 

"Is he okay?" Sam asked in concern. He looked through the office window to see Andrea and Lucas sat at one of the tables in the main room with a box of crayons.

"My grandson's been through a lot." Jake started, reluctant to say more. "We all have. Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know." He said, seemingly grateful for the subject change. Jake led Sam and Dean out of the room. 

"Thanks. You know, now that you mentioned it, could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?" Dean asked. 

"Lakefront Motel." Andrea said, walking over to the three men. "Go around the corner. It's about two blocks south." 

"Two—would you mind showing us?" 

"You want me to walk you two blocks?" Andrea laughed. 

"We have a car." Dean shrugged. 

"I'm headed that way anyway. You can drop me off then." 

 

Outside, Andrea led Dean and Sam along the street. They’d sent Percy to find them something to eat while they went to talk to the police. Sam hung back a little, scanning the area for any kind of threat, Dean, however, had his attention solely focussed on Andrea. 

“So,” Dean started. “Cute kid.” 

“Thanks.” Andrea nodded to Dean and led them across the street. 

“Kids are the best, huh?” Dean tried to initiate conversation with her again. His attempt failed as she glanced at him and ignored him. Dean didn’t open his mouth again after that as they kept walking along the street. Dean replayed the conversation in his head. That usually worked, why hadn’t it worked? Was it him? Did his breath smell? Did her have something in his teeth, on his face? They stopped in front of a building that proudly displayed a sign saying ‘LAKEFRONT MOTEL’ over its door. 

“There it is.” Andrea said, turning to face them. “Like I said, two blocks.” 

“Thanks.” Sam nodded to her and moved towards the building. As he was doing so, he pulled out his phone to text Percy their location. He still wasn’t sure where he stood with the youngest Winchester, he knew Percy was keeping secrets from him, maybe Dean too, but he also knew that if he was the one to push it, Percy would probably just retreat further into himself and never tell them anything. 

And he knew that Percy knew Jess. Somehow. And he also knew a lot of other people who knew her as well. Just more mystery to add to his younger brother. 

“Must be hard, with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line.” Sam heard Andrea say from a few feet behind him. He barely contained the laughter that wanted to erupt from his chest. He could just imagine Dean’s face, shocked and morphed into something horrifically similar to a rabbit caught in headlights. 

“Enjoy your stay!” Andrea called back over her shoulder as she left the boys alone. Sam waited for Dean to catch up with him before the teasing started. 

“'Kids are the best'?” Sam almost snorted as he quoted his brother. “You don't even like kids.” 

“I love kids.” Dean protested. He didn’t like Sam getting the best of him. 

“Name three children that you even know.” Sam challenged, raising his eyebrow at his brother. 

“Percy.” He said immediately. Sam dismissed it with a wave of his hand. He was their brother, it didn’t count, and he wasn’t sure of he even counted Percy as a kid anymore. Dean goes silent, trying to think of any children he actually did know. All the while, Sam was looking at him, smirking in victory. Eventually, he waves a hand to Dean and heads inside to get them a room, leaving Dean to think and scratch his head, apparently. 

“I’m thinking!” Dean shouted after Sam. 

The motel room is slightly less grubby than the last one. The last one hadn’t been too bad, but it could have been better, in Sam’s opinion. He sat at the desk and pulled his laptop out of the bag. After logging in to someone’s internet, Sam started searching for more information on the drownings. There was definitely something iffy going on here. 

“So there's the three drowning victims this year.” Sam turned to face Dean. Dean was next to the door, focussed on his phone. “Dude!” Sam shouted. Dean’s head snapped up and he almost dropped his phone. Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “He won’t die walking to the motel, chill.”

“Dad’ll kill me if anything happens to him.” 

“He can take care of himself, Dean.” Dean’s shoulders sagged, defeated, and he put the phone back in his pocket. “So, there were three victims this year.”

“Any before that?” Dan prompted at Sam’s pause. 

“Uh, yeah.” Sam spun his laptop around to shown Dean the The Lake Manitoc Tribune webpage he had loaded. One headline read ‘DROWNING TAINTS ICE FISHING FESTIVAL’ Dean moved clicked the article and another window popped up. ‘12-YEAR-OLD GIRL DROWNS IN LAKE, Second drowning in 6 months at Lake Manitoc’ 

“Yeesh.” Dean muttered. Sam nodded. 

“Six more spread out over the past thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there, it's picking up its pace.” Sam looked straight into Dean’s eyes, emphasising just how little time they might have to kill this thing before it got to the whole town 

“So, what, we got a lake monster on a binge?” Dean and switched his attention to his clothes and tossed some onto the bed. 

Sam sighed and rubbed the back of his head “This whole lake monster theory, it, it just bugs me.” He admitted.

“Why?” Dean walked back over to his brother and sat on the edge of the bed closest to him. 

“Loch Ness, uh, Lake Champlain, there are literally hundreds of eyewitness accounts, but here, almost nothing.” Sam frowned at the page, scrolling through a few more articles, just to make sure there wasn’t something that he’d missed. “Whatever it is out there, no one's living to talk about it.” 

Sam scrolled to the comments section of the article he was reading. Dean rose from his position on the bed to get a closer look at it.

“Wait, Barr, Christopher Barr.” He paused and stepped back a bit. “Where have I heard that name before?” 

“Christopher Barr, the victim in May.” Sam read from the page. Sam clicked the link ‘LOCAL MAN IN TRAGIC ACCIDENT’ displayed at the top of the page. The picture loaded slowly: it showed a police officer with Lucas. 

“Oh.” Sam breathed out heavily. “Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband, Lucas's father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued.” 

“Maybe we have an eyewitness after all.” 

“No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over.” Dean said. Just then, there was a knock at the door. Dean jumped up to get it. Sam saw the tension in his shoulder fall away when he saw the mop of raven hair on the other side of the door. 

“I got burgers.” Percy said sheepishly. “Well, I mean, I had burgers, and a salad for Sam, but then, uh, I kind of, uh, lost them when a, uh, dog, um, attacked me.” Percy rubbed the back of his head. He hated lying to his brothers, but he wasn’t about to tell them what had really happened. Hellhound attack. Even though Hades was doing everything he could to prevent monsters from tracking Percy, his scent was still strong and a couple still got through to him. He was just glad for the animosity between the gods and the monsters because otherwise, he was sure he would’ve been caught a long time ago. He was also thankful that Nico had managed to persuade Hades that he really was innocent. He owed a lot to the kid. 

“Sure, and these drownings are completely natural.” Dean replied. Percy just pushed past him and into the room and collapsed onto one of the beds, face down. 

“Leave me alone.” Percy grumbled into the pillow. 

“No time for sleeping, Perce, we got work to do.” Dean said as he threw a pair of balled up socks at his brother’s head. Percy rolled over and glared at him. 

 

The boys drove to the local park. 

"Why are we here?" Percy asked Dean. There was an edge to his voice. He wasn't acting normally, this hunt was freaking him out more than either of his brothers had ever seen, and it wasn't even close to the scariest thing they had hunted. 

There were children laughing and playing on the swing sets, climbing on the brightly coloured metal frames, and rolling around in the grass. Andrea was sat on a bench alone, on the edge of the park, watching Lucas from a short distance away while he played with his toy soldiers and coloured on a smaller bench. 

Sam approached from behind, the brothers had decided that he would be the best at talking to Andrea. Dean had a bad track record for hitting on her already, and Percy was just acting off. "

Can I join you?" Sam asked. Andrea turned around, not quite sure whether or not to trust him. 

"I'm here with my son." she said, pointing to Lucas a few feet away. Sam nodded and watched as Dean and Percy approached Lucas. 

"Who's that?" Andrea asked Sam as she pointed at Percy. 

"Oh, that's my younger brother, Percy. They're pretty close." Andrea nodded and seemed to accept this. 

"Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maguire thing is not gonna work on me." Andrea sounded as if she'd heard it all before. Come to think of it, she probably had. Sam had to admit that she was very pretty, no doubt shed had her fair share of Deans in her time. 

"I don't think that's what this is about." He told her as he took the seat next to her on the bench. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind talking to me, about your husband?" 

 

"How's it going?" Dean knelt down next to Lucas. The boy didn't even glance up from his sheet of paper. Dean frowned and looked at Percy who shrugged, why would he know? Percy then nodded to the toy soldiers on the bench. He knew that toys had always been the one thing Dean could count on if he ever went silent as a kid. "Oh, I used to love these things." Dean grinned and played with the toys. Percy stayed still with his arms wrapped tightly around him. He wanted to get out of there. 

 

"Your brother looks uncomfortable over there." Andrea nodded over to Percy. Sam looked and frowned. "You sure they're close?" 

"Closer than brothers." Sam replied. "But he's been away for a while, and, uh, our father has just gone missing. It's not a great time right now." Andrea just nodded and they lapsed into silence. 

 

"So crayons is more your thing? That's cool. Chicks dig artists." Percy rolled his eyes at how Dean it was to say that. Dean merely glanced up at Percy and decided to ignore him. Deans attention was drawn away to the drawings Lucas had made on the bench. There was a large pile of paper, each with something completely different on it. 

On the top piece of paper, there was a big black swirl, and on the piece underneath it was a red bicycle. There were some blank pages on the other side of the bench so Dean nodded to Percy and reached out over Lucas to grab two pieces. 

"Hey, these are pretty good. You mind if we sit and draw with you for a while?" Just as always, Lucas stayed silent so Dean picked up two crayons and nudged Percy. "I'm not so bad myself. Hume on the other hand," he gently tapped Percy's shoulder. "Well, I'll let you be the judge." 

Percy glared but took the paper and crayon from Dean and he drew the only thing he could think of. Water. It calmed him somewhat, to draw it in a way he remembered it, warm, welcoming, free, but it still brought back memories. And whenever it did, he pressed just a little too hard with the crayon, and the sea went just a little too dark, the crayon on just a little too thick. 

Dean watched as his brother did this. He saw the scrunch in his face that would come just before he pressed down. He would see the barely concealed flinch every time he realised it had happened. And most of all, he worried. 

"You know, I'm thinking you can hear me, you just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something." Dean paused, waiting for some kind of response. He got nothing.

"Anyway. Well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or, uh...or believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake." Again, Dean received no response from the young boy. "Okay, no problem. This is for you." Dean held out the picture he drew. It was a set of stick figures. Four of them. 

"This is my family." Dean smiled. He pointed to each of the characters in turn, just to make sure Lucas was focussing on him. The boy didn't look up so Dean had no idea if it had worked. 

"That's my dad. That's my mom. That's my geek brother, and that's me." Only one brother, Percy noted, he wondered which one of them it was. 

"All right, so I'm a sucky artist. I'll see you around, Lucas."!Dean got up and left the small bench, but Percy stayed. He kept colouring. Dean looked back and frowned when he saw Percy hadn't followed him. But then he saw that he was talking. 

"I get it, you know?" Percy started. "Not wanting to speak, keeping it to yourself." Percy's head never strayed from looking down at the desk. "It's easier, isn't it. Not talking to anyone about it. You think you can make it fade away, all the bad things." Percy pushed back the tears welling in his eyes. "But it doesn't work. You don't forget it. You just keep thinking about it, don't you? It just keeps swirling around in your head, like a ship lost at sea or something, and there's nothing you can do to stop it because everything just hurts. Because someone hurt you. Left you. Abandoned you. And sometimes you just want to hurt them back. It's not bad to be angry, it's not bad to be hurt." Percy looked back over to Sam and Dean. "I should go. They're waiting for me. Just don't be afraid to speak, okay?" 

"Lucas hasn't said a word, not even to me. Not since his dad's accident. We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just...when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw..." 

Just then, Lucas followed Percy over to the bench. 

"Hey sweetie." Andrea smiled and ruffled her son's hair. Lucas looked between the three adults and then back to the picture he had brought over with him. Percy had been watching Lucas and just then noticed the picture he was carrying in his own hand. He shook his head and looked around for the nearest bin. There was one about three footsteps away, so he scrunched it up and threw it in. 

Lucas handed Dean the picture and pointed to Percy. Dean took the picture from the young boy and looked in the direction of Percy, just in time to catch him throw something in the bin.

"Thanks. Thanks, Lucas." Dean said. The picture he was holding was a house Lucas pointed over to Percy again. "Percy? What about him?" Lucas handed Dean another picture. The paper had only three lines on it, two straight and one curved. It made a sad face. "I know, kid. I know." Dean said. Andrea looked between her son and Dean, confused, and then followed Lucas back to the bench. Percy arrived back at the group.

"I'm gonna go for a walk, find some food. I'll see you back at the motel." 

"Try not to get attacked by a dog this time, hey Perce?" Dean joked. Percy threw a glare over his shoulder and walked away. When his brother was far enough away Dean walked over to the bin and pulled out the drawing. He held it up for Sam to see. He nodded at Dean and they left.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if this means I'm picking the story back up again, it does mean it's still on my mind. But mainly I was moving files from my broken laptop to my new one and noticed that I had this bit written and figured what the heck. See what the reaction is and see if I have the time to pick it up again.
> 
> Enjoy

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"So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie." Sam announced as he walked into the motel room to come face to face with his oldest brother. Dean cocked his head to the side and frowned a little. 

  


"What do you mean?"

  


"I just drove past the Carlton house." Sam said as he sat down. "There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead."

  


"He drowned?"

  


"Yep. In the sink."

  


“What the hell?” Dean asked, baffled. “So you're right, this isn't a creature. We're dealing with something else. I don't know. Water wraith, maybe? Some kind of demon? I mean, something that controls water...water that comes from the same source.”

  


“The lake.” Percy said as he walked through the door. “There’s something in the lake.” he was shaking and rubbing his hands up and down his arms. He noticed both his brothers’ raised eyebrows. He shrugged. “I’m cold, ok?” Neither brother backed down from the Look. “Look, it’s upping the body count, right? The lake is draining, it’s going to run out of time to get what it wants, so it’s striking hard and fast. And it can get through the pipes.”

  


“So it can get to anyone, almost anywhere.” Dean finished. Percy nodded. He didn’t mention that he’d spent the last half hour wandering around with no jumper on in the middle of winter. Or that for most of that time he’d been staring out onto the empty lake, wondering if he should jump in just to see if he still could. To see if he could still breathe under there. To see if his powers were innate or if Poseidon or another god could take them away under the pressure of the other demigods.

  


“This has got something to do with Bill Carlton. It has to. It took both his kids and I’ve been asking around.” Sam paused and looked Dean dead in the eye. “Lucas’s dad, Chris? He was Bill Carlton’s godson.”

  


“I think we ought to pay Mr Carlton a visit.” Dean led the way to the Impala.

  


  


Bill Carlton was sat alone on a bench outside his house. He was staring out at the lake. The life had gone from his eyes, he would have been unrecognisable to his children had they been alive to see him. The man they were used to seeing each year, each day, the spark in his eyes- gone.

  


“Mr. Carlton?” Sam asked softly as he approached. Bill looked like a china doll, fragile, breakable. He looked up to the approaching voice. Taking it as a sign to continue, Sam said, “We’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind.”

  


“I've answered enough questions today.” He replied gruffly. Sam was not deterred by his attitude, however, as he pushed.

  


“Your son said he saw something in that lake. What about you? You ever see anything out there? Mr. Carlton, Sophie's drowning and Will's death—we think there might be a connection to you or your family.”

  


“My children are gone.” Bill whimpered. “It's...it's worse than dying. Go away. Please.” Sam looked like he wanted to argue but Dean pulled him back and inclined his head towards the impala where Percy was waiting for them.

  


“What do you think?” Sam asked when he sat in the passenger seat.

  


“I think the poor guy's been through hell. I also think he's not telling us something.”

  


“So now what?” Sam asked. “Dean?” He pressed. His brother had gone silent. And motionless. He pushed Dean’s shoulder.

  


“Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something.” Dean muttered to himself. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. Percy recognised it as one of the pieces Lucas was using earlier in the day. He unfolded the piece and held it up in front of the windshield. It was the same house.

  


After speaking to Lucas again, they were led to Mrs Sweeney and learnt that her son, Peter, had gone missing 35 years ago.

  


“Okay, this little boy Peter Sweeney vanishes, and this is all connected to Bill Carlton somehow.” Sam told Percy in the motel room. Percy nodded, it made sense… sort of.

  


“Yeah, Bill sure as hell seems to be hiding something.” Dean added.

  


“And Bill, the people he loves, they're all getting punished.” The three brothers were silent. Sam let his head fall forward into his hands and Percy drummed his fingers on the bed he was sitting on.

  


“So what if Bill did something to Peter?” Percy suggested. Sam’s head snapped up from his hands.

  


“What if Bill killed him?”

  


“Peter's spirit would be furious. It'd want revenge. It's possible.”

  


  


The Impala pulled up in front of the Carlton house. Sam, Dean, and Percy got out and walked into the house. Percy took charge of looking around the house for Bill as Sam and Dean headed out the back.

  


“Mr. Carlton?” Percy heard Sam call through an open window. When he heard no reply he continued looking through the rooms, calling out for Mr Carlton as he went. He heard an engine roar and snapped his head towards the window. He could see Mr Carlton moving out onto the lake. 

  


“No.” He whispered.

  


An engine roars.

  


“Mr. Carlton!” Dean called. “You need to come back! Come out of the water! Turn the boat around!” Percy heard this as he sprinted out of the house, a plan half formed in his mind.

  


“Mr. Carlton!” Sam yelled.

  


Percy pushed past his brothers, determined to pull the boat back in to the shore. He knew he could. He reached out to save him.

  


And then he fell in.

  


The water wrapped itself around Percy. The usual welcoming feeling it gave him gave way to a chocking hold that held him prisoner. He could just hear Dean at the shore, shouting after him. He supposed Dean thought he would drown, it was the kid that had dragged him down, after all. But, as constraining as the water felt around him, he could still breathe.

  


The dirt in the water began to shift under him. At first, he thought it was him, kicking the dirt up as he tried to get back to the surface, but soon, he noticed the dirt was moving to form an image. It slowly built a room. There was nothing particularly distinguishable in it, apart from the young people who filled it. Percy guessed their ages ranged from 11 to 22, and they were all focussed on something on the table in the centre of them. They looked to be watching the latest episode of their favourite show with the intensity in their eyes. Percy frowned, he wasn’t sure why he was seeing this.

  


Then, in turn, each of the heads turned to face him. They started pointing and shouting. They started running around the room and grabbing weapons. It was then that Percy realised who they were, or, more importantly, where they were. Well, Annabeth had always said he was a little slow at times.

  


Percy panicked. Surely Poseidon wouldn’t be helping them by sending them his location, would he? He was almost certain that could be done, and he had suspected being tracked by the water would be how they found him. But a small part of him had hoped to be wrong.

  


He didn’t know how long it would take them to get to him. To prepare. He didn’t really know if they knew his exact location, or just a rough estimate. Only that he had to get out of there. Fast.

They thought he was dangerous, he knew that. They thought many things about him, and Jess’s death had not done much to help that. They thought they’d need an army to take him down. They wouldn’t listen to him. They wouldn’t believe him. So he had run, as soon as he had the chance, he left. He couldn’t do that now.

  


The water was holding him down, clinging to him like chain he remembered far too well. He struggled, he kicked and screamed, but nothing worked. He lost all concept of time, he could’ve been down there ten hours or ten seconds for all he knew.

  


More time passed.

  


Then, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his body and drag him upwards. They broke the surface and he heard the person gasp for breath. Percy didn’t do that. He didn’t instinctively gasp for breath, his eyes weren’t closed, and he wasn’t unconscious. All Percy was doing was shivering. It wasn’t caused by the cold of the water, but more of a sinking feeling, a kind of dread building in his gut, a kind of betrayal, at being so unwelcomed by the one place he had felt the most comfortable his whole life.

  


Dean dragged him to the shore where he was pulled away from the water by Sam as Dean pulled himself out. Percy stared up at the sky, unmoving. He was pale, both his brothers noticed. He’d always seemed to have a permanent tan as a child, one he couldn’t get rid of no matter what state they were in, or for how long.

  


“Percy?” Sam knelt next to the teen and lightly touched him shoulder. “Hey, can you hear me?” Percy barely nodded. He felt nothing from the neck down. He felt paralysed. Whether in fear, or something else, he wouldn’t have been able to say. He only knew that something in irrevocably changed in him. Camp Half-Blood could never be his home again. He’d lost some of the thing he held most dear and he could never get them back. He was a hunter again and he was just going to have to accept that. He was a hunter.

  


He was also the hunted.

  


“Okay, good. Can you move?”

  


“Yeah.” Percy’s voice was barely above a whisper. Silently, he pushed himself off the ground with shaking arms. When Sam offered assistance Percy scooted away from him and used a nearby rock for support. Sam had to admit that the refusal stung, but the words he said that day, he couldn’t say he blamed Percy in the slightest. It had been nonstop movement since they left Stanford, and bridges had been burned that day. And they wouldn’t be so easy to fix. It could take years, or it could just never happen.

  


And that would always, always, be Sam’s biggest regret in life.


	6. Dead In The Water Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, finally, the ending!   
> Enjoy

After the incident at the lake Percy was itching to get out of town. Out of the state. Just to get in the Impala and drive away. But they weren't going to do that and he knew it. No way would they leave a case unsolved, a town still in danger. So he knew they had to stay. 

 

Dean drove back to the motel, insisting that Percy needed to warm up and dry off before they did anything else. And so Percy did. He spent a long time in the shower, just letting the steaming water roll over and down his back. He braced himself on the back wall with his hands and closed his eyes.

 

He’d tried every method he could think of to avoid thinking about Annabeth and what happened that day. He’d avoided sleeping, he’d tried drinking, he’d trained and fought, but nothing was good enough to distract himself now.

 

_“Percy!” He turned to see the blonde reaching out a hand to him. He pushed through the bush he was stood in a knelt down beside her. He lifted her head and placed it on his lap._

 

_“Hey, hey, hey, Wise Girl. You can’t die on me now.” He whispered as he stroked a hand through her hair._

 

_“I’m not dying, Percy.” She laughed a little as a cough wracked its way through her body. Percy closed his eyes. Percy. Not Seaweed Brain. There really was something wrong. Percy frowned at her. “I’m not, I swear.”_

 

_“Annabeth…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say next in the situation._

 

_“Have you ever read Romeo and Juliet?”_

 

_“Have I… What?”_

 

_“Read it. Read the ending.”_

 

There was a loud bang on the door to the tiny motel bathroom. Percy jumped and shut off the water.

 

“I’m fine!” He called to the unasked question. He heard his brothers mutter to each other and bristled. He didn't like Sam talking about him behind his back. Or caring. Or being worried. He had no right, they hadn't spoken in three years and Sam didn't know the first thing about Percy or what he’d been doing in that time. He’d needed his big brothers and he’d only had the one. And now he was just waltzing back in and he thought everything would be fine. He was wrong.

 

Percy grabbed a new pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of his duffle and quickly changed. He only had the one pair of shoes with him so he squashed his feet back into the drenched trainers and trudged out.

 

Sam looked his brother up and down. “We’ll get some new shoes.” He said. Percy merely nodded and followed Dean out to the car. Sam sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. It was not going to be an easy task to build a relationship with Percy again. He didn't really deserve it to be. 

 

The drive to the police station was punctuated with absolute silence. Percy huddled into himself in the back seat, still shaken from his dip in the lake, and neither Sam nor Dean had a clue what to say to him to make anything better or even start to figure out what was wrong.

 

Outside the station they ran into the sheriff. Jake stared them down and told them he’d seen the Impala drive away. The brothers looked at each other but followed him inside.

 

The first person to notice the brothers when they walked into the station was Lucas, The young boy was sat in a chair rocking back and forth with his mother next to him, just watching.

 

“What’s wrong, baby?” She asked when she saw his attention diverted to the door. “Sam, Dean.” She greeted as she stood up. “Percy. I didn’t expect to see you here.”  


Jake grunted and moved away from his daughter. He familiarity with the men angered him. “So now you’re on a first name basis? What are you doing here?”

 

“I brought you dinner.” Andrea said, holding up a plastic container and offering it to her father. His eyes softened and he sighed.

 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I really don't have the time today.” He refused to tell her what happened at the lake. He would not drag her into this like she was last time. Her own husband.

 

“I heard about Bill Carlton. Is it true? What’s going on with the lake?” She pushed.

 

“I don’t know, but it’s best if you and Lucas go home.” Hearing his grandfather’s words Lucas jumped up and ran to Dean. He tugged on Dean’s arm and started crying.

 

“Hey, Lucas, calm down. What is it? What’s wrong?” Dean asked.

 

“Lucas, baby, what’s wrong?” Andrea slowly approached her son. He didn't react to the words, he just kept crying. Dean looked helplessly at Andrea as Lucas pointed to himself, then Percy, and back again. Each occupant in the room frowned at the action, not knowing what it meant. But Percy had an inkling. Lucas seemed to know something about what happened. Lucas seemed to be connected to the water. And water connects to Poseidon. Percy’s hear rate skyrocketed. His brothers were going to be in danger. Soon.

 

Percy felt sick with the knowledge that he was going to be the cause of demigods wanting to attack the town, attack his brothers, to find him. He ran a hand through his hair, it needed cutting, and followed Jake as Andrea led Lucas home.

 

In the office they explained what they saw happen to Bill Carlton. Minus Percy jumping in.

 

“Okay, just so I'm clear, you see...something attack Bill's boat, sending Bill—who is a very good swimmer, by the way—into the drink, and you never see him again?” Jake summarised. Each of the brothers shared a look. It sounded crazy but it was the truth. Mainly. “And I'm supposed to believe this, even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake? And what you're describing is impossible? And you're not really Wildlife Service? That’s right, I checked. Department's never heard of you two.”

 

“See, now, we can explain that.” Dean stepped forwards.

 

“Enough. Please. The only reason you're breathing free air is one of Bill's neighbours saw him steering out that boat just before you did. So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance. Or, we can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your car, you put this town in your rearview mirror, and you don't ever darken my doorstep again.”

 

“Door number two sounds good.” Sam nodded quickly. Percy sagged in relief. They were leaving, early, and it wasn't him that needed to persuade them to go.

 

“That's the one I'd pick.”

 

Sam, Dean, and Percy sat in the Impala outside the station. Dean made no move to start the car. Percy started bouncing his leg in the back seat.

 

“Let’s go.” Percy said from the backseat. Dean nodded and pulled away. 

 

They drove through until the sky went dark. Percy’s eyes started drooping, the result of his recent sleepless nights, and he kept pinching himself to stay awake. He dropped his head onto the side of the window and let the cold seep into his body.

 

They came to a stop at a set of traffic lights at the turning to the I-43 North to Milwaukee. Dean drummed his fingers against the steering wheel and let his mind wander. He didn't feel right just leaving like that. There was still something there. And it wasn’t done yet.

 

“Green.” Sam said.

 

“What?” Dean snapped out of his thoughts.

 

“Light's green.” Sam said again and pointed to the traffic light. Dean nodded and started the car. “Uh, the interstate's the other way.” Sam said as Dean turned right.

 

“I know.” Dean nodded but carried on straight.

 

“Dean, this case, it’s over. If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed. The spirit should be at rest.”

 

“All right, so what if we take off and this thing isn't done? You know, what if we've missed something? What if more people get hurt?” Sam didn't reply to his brother’s concern, merely looked ahead and nodded. “We’re going back to Andrea’s house.”

 

Silently, Percy panicked in the backseat. No, they couldn't go back, pretty soon there would be a horde of demigods descending on that town and it would do them absolutely no good whatsoever to be there. None.

 

As they crept ever closer to the town they just left, Percy felt every nerve in his body stand on edge. 

 

“Are you sure about this? It's pretty late, man.” Sam said as they got out of the Impala.

 

Dean gave him a deadpan look and walked up to the front door and knocked. Lucas threw the door open looking panicked. Immediately, Dean knelt next to him and turned him to face him.

 

“Lucas? Lucas!” Lucas broke free from Dean’s grip and ran into the house. Not sparing a moment to glance at each other, the brothers took off after him.

 

They followed Lucas through the house to the upstairs landing. Each made a small splash as they walked along and looked down at their feet. Lucas started pounding on the bathroom door and the brothers were left to infer that something was going on in there. Dean rushed at the door and pushed Lucas out of the way to Sam. He kicked at the door until it gave way under the force he exerted on it. 

 

The door came down with a crash onto the tiled bathroom flooring. Lucas started to run into the room but Dean grabbed him and held him back. Sam sprang into action, heading straight to the bathtub where he could barely see Andrea through the first and grime of the water that had obviously not come through the taps as it should. Sam reached into the tub to pull Andrea out, but each time he tried she just got pulled back down again.

 

Percy stood frozen at the top of the stairs. The water around his feet felt like ice, trapping him in that position. He got the same feeling he’d had when he’d called into the lake, he was not welcome by the water. He shuddered but didn't move until he heard Sam frantically trying to pull Andrea out of the water. He knew he had to do something so he used all his will power to move the water from around her, to separate her from its grip, and allow Sam to finally pull her out.

 

The next few hours were spent in silence, Andrea had changed into comfortable clothing but had not been able to fall asleep. She sat with the three brothers in the living room of her house, nursing a cup of coffee long gone cold. No one had dared to talk yet, but as dawn broke Sam decided it was time to push the subject.

 

“Can you tell me?” Sam asked.

 

“No.” Andrea said quickly. She wasn't in any kind of rush to relive what had happened to her in the bathroom. “It doesn't make any sense. I'm going crazy.” Andrea whispered as she curled in on herself and started to cry.

 

“No, you're not. Tell me what happened. Everything.”

 

“I heard...I thought I heard...there was this voice.” There was no small amount of hesitation in her voice, it was obvious she was shaken from the ordeal.

 

“What did it say?”

 

“It said...it said 'come play with me’.” She shook her head as she tried to forget the sound of the voice that had tormented and nearly killed her. “What's happening?”

 

“Do you recognise the kids in these pictures?” Dean asked suddenly. He’d been looking through notebooks and photo albums while Sam had been talking, trying whatever he could to make sense of the situation. He’d found a scrapbook labelled ‘ _Jake- 12 years old’_ and opened it. He’d found a picture of Explorer Troop 37.

 

“What? Um, um, no. I mean, except that's my dad right there. He must have been about twelve in these pictures.” She pointed to another picture on the same page. This time, Jake was stood next to Peter. Dean looked up to Sam.

 

“Chris Barr's drowning. The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been to the sheriff.”

 

“Bill and the sheriff—they were both involved with Peter.” Sam continued.

 

“Lucas?” Dean questioned when he saw him staring out of the window. “Lucas, what is it?” He pressed. Lucas didn't move. He didn't point or speak. He stayed still for a minute before he turned to the door and went outside.

 

“Lucas, honey?” Andrea followed her son outside, and was there followed by Dean and Sam. Percy hesitated for a moment, still feeling uneasy from the second water encounter of the day but eventually followed as well.

 

Lucas stopped and look down at the ground meaningfully.

 

“You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay? Percy, go get some spades out of the car. Andrea nodded at Dean’s order and complied.

 

Percy came back a minute later holding two shovels. he gave one to Dean and was about to use the other one himself until Sam took it off him.

 

“You’re still healing.” Sam said as Percy frowned. Percy crossed his hands over his body and walked to a nearby tree where he watched his brothers dig. There was a clang of metal and Sam and Dean pulled out a small, red bicycle.

 

“Peter's bike.” Sam whispered.

 

“Who are you?” jake had snuck up behind the brothers. He was pointing a gun at the back of Percy’s head.

 

“Put the gun down, Jake.” Sam said as he raised his hands up to show Jake he meant no harm.

 

“How did you know that was there?” Jake shifted the gun to point to the bike.

 

“What happened? You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake and then buried the bike? You can't bury the truth, Jake. Nothing stays buried.” Dean said.

 

“I don't know what the hell you're talking about.” Jake tried to feign ignorance. He wasn't going to let slip what happened to these boys. He didn't know who they were or what they were really doing there. He couldn't trust them.

 

“You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago. That's what the hell I'm talking about.”

 

“Dad!” Andrea ran up to the group when she saw her father point a gun at the boys.

 

“And now you got one seriously pissed-off spirit.” Dean continued, ignoring Andrea’s approach to them.

 

“It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love. It's gonna drown them. And it's gonna drag their bodies God knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then, after that, it's gonna take you, and it's not gonna stop until it does.” Sam told Jake.

 

“Yeah, and how do you know that?”

 

“Because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton.” Percy replied viciously. 

 

“Listen to yourselves. You're insane.” Jake spat at them.

 

“I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us. But if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Now tell me you buried Peter somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake.”

 

Unbeknownst to the five adults, Lucas had not gone back into the house. He was stood a little way back, watching them.

 

“Come play with me.” Lucas heard the voice and followed it.

 

“Dad, is any of this true?” Andrea turned on her father. “Tell me you—you didn't kill anyone.” Jake didn't answer his daughter, he merely looked away. “Oh my god.” Andrea whispered and stepped away from her father.

 

“Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to. But we held him under too long and he drowned. We let the body go, and it sank. Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational.”

 

Andrea turned away from her father and saw Lucas at the edge of the lake. She yelled his name but he kept walking closer to the water.

 

“Lucas!” Jake yelled. The five adults ran to the dock where Lucas was leaning over the side, reaching out for one of his toy soldiers.

 

“Come play with me.”

 

“Lucas!” Dean yelled as he ran faster towards the child.

 

“Lucas! Baby, stay where you are!” Andrea begged.

 

A hand reached up out of the water and pulled Lucas in. By this time the group of five had reached the edge of the water. Sam and Dean prepare to dive into the lake but Percy pushes them both back and dives in himself.

 

This time he’s ready for the water to hate him. But he doesn't let it stop him. Lucas was innocent and young and he’d just been caught up in all of this and none of it was his fault. Sort of like a certain demigod at twelve years old. 

 

The water feels like ice chains around him, locking his joints together and preventing him from moving a muscle for what felt like an eternity. 

 

“Oh my God!” Andrea yelled from the surface. Percy could tell she was about to jump in, wither the desperation in her voice there couldn't be another thought running through her mind.

 

“Andrea, stay there!” Sam yelled. Percy tried to kick against the water. He could see Lucas just a few feet away from him.

 

“Let me go!” He yelled into the water. He didn't know what good it would do, if any at all, but it was worth a shot. “I’m trying to save a life here. If you’re trying to hold me for something, let me save him first!” Slowly, he felt the ice like chains drop away from him and he kicked towards Lucas.

 

Sam and Dean had dived in after their brother, who hadn't resurfaced for a while.

 

“We'll get him! Just stay on the dock!” Sam yelled to Andrea from the water. He plunged back into the water with Dean. A minute later, both heads popped back up.

 

“Sam?” Dean asked. Sam shook his head.

 

“Lucas, where are you?” Andrea cried.

 

Jake had been watching from the dock as his grandson was dragged down. Guilt tore at his insides, he was putting his family through hell, he already had, and he knew he could stop it. He tugged his jacket off and started wading into the water. Andrea looked over when she heard her father start talking.

 

“Peter, if you can hear me...please, Peter, I'm sorry. I'm so—I'm so sorry.” Jake said as he waded in.

 

“Daddy, no!” Andrea screamed.

 

“Peter. Lucas—he's, he's just a little boy. Please, it's not his fault, it's mine. Please take me.”

 

“Jake, no!” Dean yelled when he saw Jake wade in.

 

“Just let it be over!” Jake begged as Peter appeared. “Please.” Peter dragged Jake down.

 

“Daddy! Daddy! No!” Andrea begged from the shore. Sam and Dean dove down into the water again, looking for their brother and Lucas.

 

Meanwhile, Percy had kicked his way towards Lucas and encased them both in an air bubble, but he’d been prevented from reaching the surface again. Lucas wasn't moving but Percy didn't know how to perform CPR and he was using all his concentration to keep the bubble around them. Using his powers was much more taxing then it ever had been and he had a clue as to why. The moment her saw Dean approaching them in the water he pushed Lucas out of the bubble and into his brother’s arms.

 

Dean broke through the surface of the water with Lucas in his arms. He made his way to the edge of the water and started CPR on Lucas.

 

“Dean?” Sam asked. Dean shook his head, he hadn’t seen Percy down there. Just as Sam was about to jump back into the water, a black haired boy ran out from behind a tree and jumped in himself. Before Sam knew what had happened, he reappeared with his arms wrapped around Percy and Percy looking vaguely green.

 

“Walk it off.” The boy said. Percy half heartedly glared at him and proceeded to kneel beside a tree.

 

 

 

Sam and Dean stood out on the street next to the Impala half an hour later. Percy had walked off with the strange boy moments after he’d come out of the water and they hadn't seen him since.

 

“Look, we're not gonna save everybody.” Sam tried to placate Dean. He’d noticed his brother’s mood shift since they packed up the motel. They’d packed all of Percy’s things back in his duffle and thrown the three of them in the back of the Impala.

 

“I know.” Dean sighed. He was figuring out in his head how to find Percy before they left. It wasn't a big place and he was sure they could find him without much difficulty, he just didn't know what was going on with his baby brother. 

 

“Sam, Dean.” Andrea greeted as she walked up with Lucas.

 

“Hey.” Dean smiled.

 

“We're glad we caught you. We just, um, we made you lunch for the road.” Lucas held out the tray of sandwiches he was holding at his mother’s words.

 

“Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself.” Andrea tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear as she looked at the brothers. The wind had picked up drastically in the past ten minutes. “Looks like there’s a storm coming in.” Andrea noted. Sam and Dean nodded.

 

“Can I give it to them now?” Lucas asked. Dean smiled at the sudden voice. Lucas was talking again, it could only be a good sign.

 

“Of course.” Dean led Lucas over tot eh dar where they loaded the sandwiches in. 

 

“You take care of your mom, okay?” Dean said to Lucas.

 

“All right.” Lucas nodded.

 

Andrea came up behind Dean and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” She said. Dean smiled and nodded. “And thank Percy for me, I haven't seen him since…” Andrea trailed off, not wanting to give the incident any kind of name.

 

“Yeah.” Dean said gruffly and cleared his throat. “Yeah, I will.”

 

Just as Andrea turned away to step onto the pavement Percy and the unknown boy from earlier ran up to the car. They seemed to be arguing about something.

 

“Look, they’re about ten minutes out, if you don’t get your ass out of here soon then it’s going to end up on a cell.” The dark haired boy said, just out of the range of hearing of the elder Winchesters.

 

“And if you stay with me, you’re going to go down with me.” Percy came to a stop in front of the Impala and rested his hand on the hood.

 

“I’m not leaving. I convinced my dad you weren’t what they said, isn't it obvious I’m going to help in any way I can?” Percy and the boy seemed to just register the fact that they were surrounded by three adults and promptly stopped their argument.

 

All shared an awkward look until Andrea cleared her throat. 

 

“Thank you for helping, Percy. You saved us.”

 

“It was nothing.” Percy shrugged. “My brothers did most of the work.” Andrea nodded. “Let’s hit the road!” Percy clapped and jumped in the back seat of the Impala, dodging the duffles and the food. He tried to close the door before the other boy jumped in and failed.

 

“I’m coming.”

 

“They’ll come after you.” Percy pleaded in an attempt to make him stay.

 

“Then they’ll come after us, and I quite like our odds.” Percy laughed. Sam and Dean had got in the car by this point as well and shared a look. There was something they didn't know about going on. Something other than acting off because their dad was missing. 

 

“Sam, move your ass. We're gonna run out of daylight before we hit the road.” Dean said as Sam slid into the car. The rest of the Impala was filled with a tense silence, no one knowing quite what to say as they set off. 

 

 

 

Back at the lake, a group of teenagers were gathered.

 

“He was here.” One of them, the leader it seemed, said. “Now, we find out who he talked to and why.”

 

 

 


End file.
